Hetty van de Wouw won her third gold medal on Saturday night during the Track Cycling World Championships in Chile. After winning world titles in the team sprint and the sprint, the 27-year-old rider from Kaatsheuvel was also the best in the kilometer time trial. In the final, Van de Wouw set her own world record: 1.03.121.
Russia’s Jana Burlakova took silver. The bronze went to New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews.
Attic
During the qualifications, Van de Wouw had also broken her own world record from earlier this year during the European Championships in Zolder, Belgium. With a time of 1.03.652 she was the first woman to dive under 1 minute and 4 seconds. Until this year, the women rode a time trial over 500 meters.
Van de Wouw already won the world title in the sprint on Friday, while on Wednesday she won gold in the team sprint section with Kim Kalee and Steffie van der Peet. She will take part in the keirin event on Sunday.
‘Wait and see how the legs feel tomorrow’
She did not rule out whether world title four is feasible in front of the NOS camera. “Let’s see how the legs feel tomorrow after this effort,” she said. “But you can also win on the keirin if you are not the best.”
She experiences the World Cup on the cycling track in Santiago in a daze. “It’s unbelievable, three world titles. I knew I was good, but had no idea what the competition would be like.”
‘I didn’t pay much attention to other people’s times’
She won the non-Olympic kilometer time trial with more than a second and a half lead over the number two. “I didn’t pay much attention to the times of the others before it was my turn. I saw that some were faster than in the qualifications. But there is no build-up in such a race. It’s just going full throttle and continuing. I took my win in the second round and was able to hold on for a long time. It does demand a lot from your body.”