Sean Eadie had only two shots at it. He nailed it in one.

With the stands empty, his career on the line and only the clock as rival, Eadie virtually sealed the lead-rider spot for the Australian team sprint trio in the Athens Olympics track cycling.

From a standing start, he had to heave his 95.8kg frame - and his trademark beard - around 250 metres of the Dunc Gray Velodrome in 18 seconds or less.

He didn't need to be asked twice.

Eadie, world match sprint champion in 2002, stopped the clock in 17.97sec, a personal best and an unofficial national record.

It was comfortably inside the qualifying time and also under the 17.986sec posted by his main rival Ben Kersten at the same venue 15 days earlier.

Kersten trained at the velodrome, but left before Eadie's time trial, believing it would be unsportsmanlike to hang around "death-riding" his team-mate and rival.

Kersten's coach Terry Doherty was there and phoned Kersten with the bad news the moment Eadie's time flashed up on the board.

Kersten said one word: "Oh", and hung up, knowing his Athens dream was over.

Eadie is now virtually guaranteed to be in the team, provided he is cleared by an inquiry into alleged doping breaches arising from testimony by banned sprint team-mate Mark French.

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