Dave Brailsford, British Cycling's Performance Director, labelled it the "best Velodrome in the world". Quadruple Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy agrees and Seb Coe calls it "jaw dropping". But that was all before the test event held at the Olympic Velodrome, the UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

Maybe it was just because of the success Britain had enjoyed in Beijing four years ago, but this event seems to have brought out the enthusiasm of the public, who created an atmosphere frenzied enough to inspire the most laid back of athletes.

Imagine what it will be like in just under six months, when it's the real thing. It felt quite like the real thing, in fact, particularly when Hoy pulled off a superb move to overtake Robert Förstemann in the first race of their men's sprint semi-final.

At the last test event I witnessed in the Olympic Park the atmosphere was superb, but that was largely thanks to the hordes of schoolchildren enjoying the novelty of a day off school, and who almost exclusively packed out the Handball Arena that day. This was very different, and felt much more like what it will probably be like during London 2012.

Certainly the atmosphere benefits from the very nature of the sport. Much like horse racing, the anticipation as competitors jostle for position before the late burst to the end can get the most reserved of characters out of their seats, cheering the athletes to the finish line. And unlike horse racing, disappointment at the final result isn't compounded by most of the crowd counting their losses.


For its success, the event did not go off without its hiccups. The 40 minute break scheduled between the morning and afternoon session was scrapped as events fell behind the strict timings set out, though they had caught up by the end. And the crowd did have to be reminded that there were two teams competing in the third place race between New Zealand and Belgium in the men's team pursuit, such was their muted acknowledgment that there was a medal at stake. Then again, maybe they were just having a well-earned rest. All that cheering for Hoy must take it out of you.

Indeed, even during the team pursuit final, when Britain and Australia, reigning Olympic and World champions respectively, were going pedal to pedal for the gold medal, the crowd quietened as our 'friends' from down under took charge (as usual).

"The atmosphere has been electric," Britain's Ed Clancy, one of the final's quartet, said afterwards, before adding: "The crowd were definitely a bit quieter. We could almost sense we were down a bit out there on the track, which was a bit strange."

And so those are the perils of having a home crowd behind you. It's great when they're roaring you on but, when they're quiet, you know something is going wrong. In this case, Australia were breaking a national record, and almost a world record. Their sensational 3min 54.615sec was just over a second slower than Britain's world record breaking performance in winning the Olympic crown in Beijing four years ago, and the quartet of Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alexander Edmondson and Michael Hepburn were among the stars of the day at the Velodrome.


Another who lit up the arena, almost predictably, was Hoy. Even when Germany's ever-impressive Maximilian Levy seemed to have the edge over Hoy in the second race of their men's sprint final, there was an inevitability to the Brit's comeback and, in the end, decisive victory.

The 35-year-old will be the man to beat in London, that is if he is even selected ahead of Jason Kenny for the individual sprint slot, such is the strength in depth of the British team that must have Brailsford sleeping very comfortably at night, even if Kenny finished a disappointing fifth on the day. Hoy always seems almost too confident, though never cocky. Maybe if Kenny reminds him that he's competing for a place at the world's greatest sporting event in front of a home crowd it might give him the slightest of jitters.

Or to put it another, more accurate way, it won't. Nothing will, probably, with Hoy. One British athlete who could be forgiven for being nervous though is Laura Trott, who capped a superb showing this week by taking bronze in the women's omnium in some style. She claimed the fastest time in the event's final discipline – the time trial. It was quite a performance, coming 24 hours after her stunning victory in the elimination race, where she pulled off a series of scarcely believable houdini acts at the back of the field. It was like watching Manchester United in cyclist form. The overall winner of the omnium, though, was Sophie Hammer, and the American was another whose performance was fitting for an arena such as this, as her consistency helped her to edge Annette Edmondson of Australia into second overall.


It all made the women's keirin seem like quite an anti-climax by the end of the day's action, as Simona Krupeckaite (pictured centre) claimed gold in a closely fought race. But there was still one final piece of drama and a bizarre finish to the men's sprint for the crowd, who deserved the encore provided by Germany's Förstemann. With both he and French rival Kevin Sireau having taken one race each in their bronze medal battle, the Frenchman stopped paying attention for a split second as they both set off and Förstemann ruthlessly punished him, racing off from the line as though pedalling for the final straight. Almost as soon as Sireau realised what had happened to him and started to chase his opponent, he gave up, leaving the German to enjoy the novelty of celebrating with the best part of a lap to go.

Though perhaps not the most technically skilful display of the day, but Förstemann's wit was a fitting end to the action. And what some have called the most impressive Olympic venue showed that it will have some of the most spectacular sport this summer. And on top of that, a better atmosphere will be hard to find at London 2012.

David Gold is a reporter for insidethegames. You can follow him on twitter here.