Kristina Vogel’s absence made it easier for me, admits double world champion Sarah Lee
- Hong Kong superstar says paralysed German Olympic champion offered her encouragement
- The 31-year-old says she will be a marked rider in next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games
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.
