2 U.S. Women Advance to Sprint Final in Japan

Connie Young and Renee Duprel won their sprint semifinals today at the World Cycling Championships, setting up an all-American final.

Young beat Felicia Ballanger of France in two straight races. Duprel lost the first race to Rita Raznaite of the Soviet Union but rallied to win the next two.

Viatcheslav Ekimov of the Soviet Union won the professional individual pursuit gold medal with a time of 5 minutes, 39.040 seconds, 1.623 seconds faster than Francis Moreau of France, who won the silver.

The bronze medal went to Armand De Las Cuevas of France.

Defending champion Roland Koenigshofer won the amateur motor-paced race today for Austria’s first gold medal.

Paced by Karl Igl, Koenigshofer covered 150 laps of the 333-meter course at the Green Dome in 39 minutes, 13.877 seconds.

Italian David Solari, paced by Walter Corradin, was second, one lap behind. Andrea Bellati of Switzerland, paced by Veli Luginbuehl, finished third.

The men’s amateur sprint final will pit East Germany’s Bill Huck and Canadian Curtis Harnett. Huck, the 1989 champion, beat Nikolai Kovsh of the Soviet Union, 2-0, while Harnett overcame East Germany’s Jens Fiedler, 2-1.

In qualifying for the women’s individual pursuit, Leontien Van Moorsel of Holland posted the fastest time, clocking 3:44.90.

Americans Janie Eickhoff and Kendra Kneeland were among eight riders advancing into the quarterfinals. Eickhoff was third, clocking 3:45.22. Kneeland finished eighth, barely advancing into the next round, to be held later today.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Barbara Erdin Ganz of Switzerland, Madonna Harris of New Zealand, Tea Vikstedt-Nyman of Finland and Canadians Kelly-Ann Erdin Carter and Kelly-Ann Way.

The East German men’s team was timed at 4:12.80 in the amateur pursuit, best among the eight countries advancing to the quarterfinals.