Records for Collinelli, gold for Rousseau
Italy's Andrea Collinelli broke the 4,000-meters pursuit world record twice in three hours on Wednesday (July 24) on his way to a place in the Olympic semifinals.

But another rider considered a sure bet in the one-kilometer time trial, world champion Shane Kelly, had a nightmare day on the Stone Mountain track.

A ``beginner's mistake'' saw his foot slip out of its strap immediately after he had started and he was forced to concede victory to France's Florian Rousseau.

Collinelli, second in last year's world championships, posted a time of four minutes 19.699 seconds in the preliminaries, cutting more than a second off the world record set by British rider Graeme Obree.

Obree, recovering from the effects of a viral infection, failed to qualify after a miserable run 15 seconds slower than Collinelli.

The Italian was in record-breaking mode again in the quarter-finals. Matched against Andrei Yatsenko of Ukraine in the last pairing, he paced himself perfectly and began to push himself fully only in the closing kilometer.

Collinelli's time of 4:19.153 was more than 1.7 seconds faster than the 4:20.894 record set by Obree in Norway three years ago--yet Italian team officials said he had to be pushed to make another record attempt.

"I'm in the best form of my life. I have definitely never felt stronger," he said, looking forward to Thursday's semifinals and final.

Obree, disappointed by his own showing, was philosophical about losing his record.

``Records always go. The important thing is to have held it,'' he said.

In the one-kilometer time trial Kelly was hot favorite for gold and after Collinelli's first run on the fast track there was talk of him extending his own world record.

But he fell victim to what Rousseau called a ``beginner's mistake'' -- his footstrap was not tight enough.

Rousseau, riding second to last, set an Olympic record of one minute 2.712 seconds.

Kelly was up next but after making what he called ``a perfect start'' his left foot slipped out in its first downward stroke.

Silver went to American Erin Hartwell who clocked 1:02.940. Japan's Takanobu Yumonji produced the race of his life to take the bronze in 1:03.261.

``I can't believe it. I don't know what to say,'' a shattered Kelly said.

``You can't blame anyone. It's just one of those things that happen...All I can do is put it behind me and look forward to Sydney in 2000.''

Rousseau, who was world champion at the distance in 1993 and 1994 but lost out to Kelly last year, spared no sympathy for the crestfallen Australian.

``I couldn't believe I was Olympic champion,'' said the Frenchman. ``I really thought he'd broken his chain and would be able to restart.

``When I saw it was his footstrap, I thought he's only got himself to blame. It's a beginner's mistake.''

This story written by Reuters correspondents