Kristina Vogel’s absence made it easier for me, admits double world champion Sarah Lee

Hong Kong superstar Sarah Lee Wai-sze has admitted that paralysed Olympic champion Kristina Vogel’s absence from the world championships in Pruszkow, Poland made it easier for her to bag an unprecedented two gold medals.

Vogel had always been one of Lee’s arch-rivals on the velodrome but the 28-year-old two-time Olympic champion from Germany was a notable absentee as she turned from competitor to commentator at the worlds after her career was ended by a horrific crash during training in Germany last year.

Lee, 31, who won gold medals in the women’s sprint and keirin in Poland, said upon her return that Vogel would have been difficult to beat had she not been crippled by the crash that left her with serious spinal injuries.

“Perhaps this is one of the outside factors why I was able to dominate my two events,” said Lee as she was greeted by a horde of reporters at Hong Kong International Airport.

“In fact, other teams such as the Netherlands and the Great Britain teams didn’t seem to go to the worlds fully prepared,” she added.

Lee has built a long-lasting friendship with Vogel over the years, competing together on the circuit and the Hong Kong rider felt sorry that the once powerful German, who has a record 11 rainbow jerseys, was unable to compete again after her career-ending injuries suffered in June 2018.

“She came down to talk to me at the end of the competition,” said Lee. “We chatted for a while and she said she was doing OK. It’s difficult to express in words the moment we had together. I don’t think it is easy for her to overcome the incident and all the riders [at the competition] wanted to give her some positive energy.”

Lee said she felt sorry for Vogel, who just three months before her accident clinched both the team sprint and sprint gold medals at the 2018 world championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

“I think many riders have been affected by Vogel’s misfortune, especially the German team,” said Lee.

Lee also believes she will be a marked rider at the Tokyo Games next year after her success in Poland with coach Shen Jinkang expecting a “tough road ahead” for his start cyclist.

“I am happy the other riders will study me as their target. I am not afraid of this. Hopefully it can give me the opportunity of knowing myself even better,” she said. “There’s 18 months to go before Tokyo. Anything can happen. I will just do my best in the build-up and hope I can maintain my good form for the Olympics.”

Lee also hoped her teammates could pick up the pace in the team sprint, especially after the sudden withdrawal of Vivian Ma Wing-yu this year. There are three sprinting events on the Olympic programme – team sprint, sprint and keirin.

“We need to find a stable partner in the first leg for the team sprint,” she said. “She [the rider] would need to complete the first lap in at least 19.5 seconds and then we can become competitive.”

Lee will be 33 by the time she competes in Tokyo but she wasn’t worried about her advancing age.

“I never ask myself how old I am,” said Lee. “The older you are the more experienced you are. Younger riders lack experience.”