OLYMPIC TRIALS ROUNDUP : Another Cycling Title for Paraskevin-Young

Connie Paraskevin-Young maintained her edge over Renee Duprel to win a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and a seventh national match sprint title Saturday at Blaine, Minn.

The victory by Paraskevin-Young in the U.S. cycling Olympic trials and national championships at the National Sports Center velodrome made her an Olympian for the fourth time in two different sports.

Paraskevin-Young, of Indianapolis, won two consecutive races in the best-of-three match sprint, a three-lap contest combining tactical maneuvering and speed. She was a speed skater for the United States in 1980 and 1984 and a cyclist in 1988.

“I was happy with my rides,” Paraskevin-Young said. “I did exactly what I wanted to do. I think I rode the better race. Judging from the race, I think I physically outdid her.”

In Saturday’s other final, the U.S. National-Skittles squad of Chris Coletta, Matt Hamon, Dirk Copeland and James Carney won the 4,000-meter team pursuit championship. The Olympic pursuit team will be selected today, with at least two members coming from the winning squad. Four other members--two riders and two alternates--will be selected by U.S. Cycling Federation coaches.

Paraskevin-Young and Duprel, of Bellevue, Wash., have been bitter rivals since colliding in a race in San Diego in 1989. Duprel, 26, believes that Paraskevin-Young took her down; Paraskevin-Young, 30, maintains the accident was caused by Duprel’s inexperience.

Duprel won the last two national match sprint titles. In 1990, she won by default when Paraskevin-Young left the event because of a rain delay. Duprel won last year with Paraskevin-Young out with an injury.

Paraskevin-Young proved to be the stronger one in 1992. She won the first ride convincingly, outsprinting Duprel for the last half of the race. Duprel challenged Paraskevin-Young in the second ride, swooping beneath her on the track to take the lead on the second lap, but Paraskevin-Young caught her on the final straightaway.

Tessa Sanderson, the 1984 gold medal winner in the javelin, became the first British track and field athlete to qualify for a fifth Olympic Games.

Sanderson, 36, qualified by winning the event at the AAA championship meet at Birmingham, England, with her first throw of 207 feet 5 inches. The meet is also the British Olympic qualifying trial.

“People dream of going to just one Olympics--but going to five is something else,” Sanderson said. “I know I’m capable of winning that gold medal.”

She won her gold medal in Los Angeles with an Olympic record of 228-2. Sanderson, born in Jamaica, first competed in the Olympics in 1976 at Montreal.

Tulu Daratu of Ethiopia smashed the African record by eight seconds in winning the women’s 10,000-meter run at the African Athletics Championships at Pamplemousses, Mauritius.

After three days, South Africa had nine gold, nine silver and 11 bronze medals for a total of 29. Runner-up Nigeria had five golds and 11 total medals.

Daratu won Ethiopia’s first medal of the four-day championships with a clocking of 31 minutes 32.56 seconds, breaking the old African record of 31:40.56 in the women’s 10,000 meters set in 1989 by Sabiha Mansouri of Algeria.