Triple gold on track for Japanese Unicyclist at World Championships

Seisuke Kobayashi 800m Final. Photo by roadcycling.co.nz

Multiple world champion Seisuke Kobayashi, from Japan, was the star on the track at the Unicycle World Championships in Wellington today. Seisuke won the 800m, 400m and 100m though he had to work hard to hold on to his 800m title. An unexpectedly bold challenge from young Swiss unicyclist, Philipp Henestrosa, looked like causing an upset after he led the field after the first lap of 400m.

An aggressive start by Henestrosa quickly stretched the field and had Kobayashi, German Niklas Wojtek and Henestrosa in a tight group in front down the back straight. Round the corner at the 200m mark Henestrosa grabbed the lead by two metres and the possibility of a major upset seemed on. However, Kobayashi re-assumed control down the back straight on the second lap as the young Swiss rider’s legs started to tire. The superior strength of Kobayashi enabled him to hang on to win by 2.5 seconds from fast finishing Wojtek. Seventeen year old Henestrosa managed to hold on for fourth.

Kobayashi also won multiple gold on the track at the past two world championships held in Switzerland and Denmark.

In the women’s track events only a silver medal by German Laura Gienapp prevented a clean sweep of all medals by the Japanese. The 100m provided the closest finish of the day with only nine hundredths of a second separating Japanese unicyclists, Mayoko Deguchi and Anna Misawa, with Gienapp in between the two.

Results Women:

800m: 1. Natsume Yamamoto (Japan) 2min13.70sec, 2. Yui Sugahara (Japan) 2:14.23, 3. Minami Watanabe (Japan) 2:14.86; 400m: 1.Saori Yazawa (Japan) 1min 1.19sec, 2. Natsume Yamamoto (Japan) 1:01.90, 3. Minami Watanabe (Japan) 1:02.68; 100m: 1. Mayuko Deguchi (Japan) 14.27sec, 2. Laura Gienapp (Germany) 14.32sec, 3. Anna Misawa (Japan) 14.36sec

Results Men:

800m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 2min 5.60sec, 2. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 2:08.15, 3. Masataka Seto (Japan) 2:09.36; 400m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 56.39sec, 2. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 58.51sec, 3. Hiroaki Okayama (Japan) 58.75sec; 100m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 13.09sec, 2. Hiroaki Okayama (Japan) 13.62sec, 3. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 13.67sec.

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