Cyclist Zach Bell finds brief moment of satisfaction during frustration of eighth-place in omnium at London Olympics

It was a brief moment of satisfaction in an otherwise disappointing couple of days for cyclist Zach Bell.

Bell punched the air in triumph when he won the 16-kilometre scratch race Sunday, but it was too little too late in his quest to reach the podium in the omnium at the London Olympic Games.

The 29-year-old who lives in North Vancouver finished eighth in the two-day, six-discipline event which made its Olympic debut. It was a frustrating finish for the native of Watson Lake, Yukon, who came to the Games considered a medal contender.

"I've missed the podium in this event twice in my life, here and at one world championship," Bell told Postmedia. "So to have two bad days now is hard.''

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Bell wanted to become the first athlete from the Yukon to win an Olympic medal. He hopes he still inspired some child with his performance.

"I won a race at the Olympics, and that's more than most of the guys here can say," Bell said. "I've had a lot of people calling me, a lot of people behind me and encouraging me to pick myself up.

"After four sort of sub-par races to do that (win one), especially with some of the kids from Yukon watching, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to give them something to cheer about."

Denmark's Norman Lasse Hansen won the gold with 27 total points. France's Bryan Coquard was second with 29 while Great Britain's Edward Clancy took the bronze with 30. Bell had 49 points.

Bell, a two-time world champion silver medallist, was seventh in Saturday's opening event, the flying lap 250-metre time trial. He struggled in the 30-kilometre points race, placing 13th, then was 10th in the elimination race.

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On Sunday he was seventh in the four-kilometre individual pursuit, where two riders start at opposite sides of the track and race against the clock. After the scratch race victory he was 10th in the one-kilometre time trial where each competitor rides the course aiming for the fastest time.

In the omnium the winner of an event receives one point, the second-place rider two points and the third three points. The rider with the lowest total score at the end of six events wins.

After the race Bell went looking for his wife Rebecca who is seventh months pregnant with the couple's first child.

Bell isn't sure if the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro are in the cards.

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"There are one and a half people in the crowd that are going to have to answer that question before I do," Bell said with a laugh. ''It's not totally off the radar, but we're still a ways away from that discussion I think. I've probably got to go paint a room or something.''

The women's omnium begins Monday. Tara Whitten of Edmonton, who won a bronze medal in the women's team pursuit on Saturday, is considered a medal contender

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