CYCLING - BOARDMAN FULFILS WORLD RECORD PREDICTION .
Martin Ayres
MANCHESTER , England 1996-08-28
Britain 's Chris Boardman fulfilled his prediction that he would break the world 4,000 metres world record in the world track cycling championships on Wednesday .
Boardman clocked four minutes 13.353 seconds to slice more than six seconds from the previous world mark of 4:19.699 set by Olympic champion Andrea Collinelli of Italy in Atlanta in July .
Collinelli qualified in second place , also beating his old record in 4:17.696 .
" I was very nervous before the start but then I was amazed by the speed of my ride , " Boardman said . "
I do n't know if I can go any faster .
Who knows what will happen in the later stages ? "
Boardman , 28 , did not contest the Olympic pursuit because of its proximity to the Tour de France in which he led the French GAN team .
However , he took a bronze medal in the Olympic road time-trial and then returned home to prepare for the world track series in the Manchester indoor velodrome .
He adopted the " superman " riding position with arms at full stretch perfected by fellow Briton Graeme Obree , the 1995 world champion , and taken up in Atlanta by Collinelli .
Obree was forced to pull out of his title defence because of a viral infection .
Qualifiers for Wednesday evening 's quarter-finals :
1. Chris Boardman ( Britain ) 4:13.353
2. Andrea Collinelli ( Italy ) 4:17.696
3. Mariano Friedick ( U.S. ) 4:19.808
4. Heiko Szonn ( Germany ) 4:21.009
5. Francis Moreau ( France ) 4:21.454
6. Alexei Markov ( Russia ) 4:22.738
7. Michael Sandstod ( Denmark ) 4:24.427
8. Edouard Gritsoun ( Russia ) 4:26.467