INTRODUCTION: World Professional Sprint Cycling Champion John Nicholson of Australia was beaten in the finals of the international meeting in Leicester, England on Monday (11 April) by East Germans Emmanuel Raasch and Jurgen Geschke. Nicholson, who's been recovering from a bout of bronchitis, was beaten into third place when Geschke took second behind Raasch.

SYNOPSIS: Nicholson took his little in 1975, and held it again last year. He first rode at Leicester in 1970, when he took third place in the World Amateur Sprint Championships shortly after winning the Commonwealth title.

Another international challenger -- Yoshikazu Cho of Japan, who justified his travelling expenses by beating riders from Holland and Britain in the 660 metres International Sprint.

Nicholson, wearing his world champion no-number jersey, did well enough in the semi-finals to beat Gordon Singleton of Canada, number six, into second place. Trevor Gadd of Britain, number 17, trailed the pair to come in third. Singleton is the Canadian Sprint Champion who came second in the 1976 Sprint at Leicester.

A large crowd gathered for the Leicester meeting which is one of the premier cycling events in the international calender, to watch the world's top riders. Cho, wearing the number ten jersey and the white helmet, showed the form which put him among Japan's top riders when he pushed local boy Gadd, still wearing number 17, into second place in one of the 660 heats. Jackie Peters of Holland, in the yellow number eight, came third. Britain's J. Platten, number 58, was unplaced.

The finals -- and Nicholson's downfall. The Australian was easily pushed back into third by the East German pair -- Raasch in the number five jersey, and Geschke in number four.

Raasch, congratulated by the world champion for his victory, was third in the 1975 World Sprint Championships -- again beating Geschke by a place.