For best of athletes, the upcoming Olympic in Rio seems to have begun with UCI Track Cycling Championship at Minsk, Belarus. The Minsk Track World Championship is scheduled from 20th- 24th February, 2013. In absence of star riders in the Velodrome, national federations seem to be on the hope of discovering new talents in course of the competition from this Wednesday to Sunday.

Great Britain, who had been dominating in the London events in 2012, is said to have come up with a new genre of track sprinters this time at Minsk Championship. Britain would be missing out on their star performer Victoria Pendleton & Chris Hoy but is counting highly on its latest talents like Laura Trott, Dani King, Phillip Hindes and Jason Kenny-who have already achieved gold medals in London last year.

Australia, although participating without Anna Meares, the Aussie champion sprinter, can still hope on winning many titles legitimately this week. The same rings true for France, Germany, New Zealand and other countries that traditionally perform well in Velodromes.

Colombia, more renowned for the track riders than road racers, can surprise everyone at the Minsk Arena, especially with its rising Juliana Gaviria. Gaviria had won Kerin in Cali, in the 1st stage of UCI 2012-2013 World Cup presented by Samsung.

However, it is the Eastern European riders who would be in majority at Minsk World Championships. The Eastern European side comes up with 262 riders from 35 nations. Russia will appear with 31 athletes, nearly double the size of the squad from Britain & Australia. Ukraine & Berlarus would participate with 17 & 13 racers respectively.

World Cycling Center has declared to forward 3 athletes whom the centre has prepared through the past few weeks in Aigle. Chinese riders like Jiniie Gong and Shuang Guo could expect a win in the team sprint and Kerin would certainly inspire Eoin Mullen, their team-mate who would be competing in his 1st World Championships.