She almost got a point in the third sprint, and in the fifth, gained another five. Finally, in the penultimate sprint she got one more point, bringing her total to 11 and putting her in 4th position, the best result of any of the participants who did not win a sprint.

Unfortunately, the Championship podium did go to the sprint winners: in 1st place, the Danish racer, in 2nd the Dutch and in 3rd the Italian. In the end, the outstanding cyclist Vos got her third World Championship – in other disciplines (cyclo-cross, track and road) – thanks to her performance in the points race.

The only sticky moment for Olaberría was when Canadian cyclist Gina Grain and Mexican cyclist Belem Guerrero, two of Leire’s rivals in the classification, mounted an offense against her: if they had managed to get ahead of her, Olaberría would automatically have been set back to 7th place. Fortunately, they did not succeed.

“I’m happy, because the objective was to get to Beijing, and I achieved that. As a racer, I need a strong start, because if things go well from the beginning, my confidence increases. And that’s why I went out to win the first sprint, and I saw that, either the others weren’t so strong, or I was doing better than on other occasions. I also thought that if things didn’t go so well, I had 90 laps to fix it. This is a very important moment for me, and I want to thank all of those who have supported me, because if I have made it, it’s because of them, especially Didac, who gave me the opportunity to be here, and my team Cespa-Euskadi, for the project it started and for believing in me.”

With her 4th place classification, Olaberría improved her result last year in Palma de Mallorca, where she placed 5th in the Scratch, which is not an Olympic sport. These World Championships brought the UCI 2007-2008 track cycling season to a close, and Olaberría one step up in her progress.