Cycling at CS Dominguez Hills : Gorski Beats Olympian in Match Sprint Final

Mark Gorski doesn’t have a spot on the U.S. Olympic cycling team. r But he’ll always have 1984.

The 1984 match sprint gold medalist relived some of the memories Saturday at the Olympic Velodrome in Dominguez Hills, site of the Olympics four years ago. Gorski ducked inside Curt Harnett on the final turn and blew by the Canadian Olympic cyclist to win the match sprint final of the Sundance Grand Prix.

After losing out to Ken Carpenter for the only U.S. Olympic match sprint berth a week ago, Gorski defeated Harnett on the third sprint to win the best-of-three final at the Grand Prix. If only Gorski could ride every race at Dominguez Hills.

“It feels pretty damn good,” Gorski said. “It was a real disappointment not to win the trials. . . . I really did want to win here. It really meant a lot to me.”

Gorski, 28, said the victory took away a bit of his frustration of not making it to Seoul. He even mentioned the possibility of trying for the Olympics in 1992.

“Nothing makes up for not going to the Games,” Gorski said. “But this helps. It really does. It makes me feel a lot better.”

The final between Gorski and Harnett was marred by an accident after the race. Harnett, who will be competing in both the match sprint and the kilometer time trial at the Olympics, was sent crashing to the track by a cameraman who backed onto the track and bumped the cyclist on his warm-down lap.

Harnett, who got up and hurled his helmet in frustration, hurt his right hand but apparently not seriously.

“That’s the last thing you want to have happen, a silly crash like that to affect your performance at the Olympics,” Harnett said. “But I don’t think it’s serious.”

Harnett, 23, figures to be a serious threat at the Olympics. He exhibited his ability at the Grand Prix, winning the kilometer time trial Friday night before losing to Gorski in a tight race Saturday.

Harnett may be the only cyclist with a chance to win a medal in both the kilometer and the match sprint at Seoul.

“Both physically and mentally, it’s very demanding,” Harnett said of competing in both events. “People don’t know how hard it is.”

It was partly Harnett’s fatigue from the two days of cycling that allowed Gorski to slip inside him and win the final. But Harnett feels he has a good chance in both races at the Olympics.

In other races at the Grand Prix, Olympic cyclist Connie Paraskevin-Young breezed to victory in the women’s match sprint, defeating Renee Duprel in the final.

Paraskevin-Young, who appeared to have little competition at the Grand Prix, said she’s ready for Seoul. She will be competing in the first match-sprint competition for women in the Olympics, which she says gives her some extra incentive to succeed.