The velodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines saw full day of exciting action on Day 13 of the Paris Games. The men’s omnium race headlined the day with France’s Benjamin Thomas winning in front of a loud crowd. New Zealand’s Ellise Andrews continued her impressive Olympics in the women’s keirin. The men’s individual sprint also saw some drama in the quarterfinals, with Japan’s Ota Kaiya winning the fifth-place race at the end of the day.
Men’s omnium results:
The omnium event is four races to award the best “all-around” rider on the track. At the Olympics the races include a scratch, tempo, elimination and points race. The first three races are 40 laps for men and 30 laps for women. The 2024 Games is the fourth Olympics where omnium is being competed. France’s Benjamin Thomas won the gauntlet of the day with 164 points, much to the delight of the home crowd.
The first race of the day featured the scratch race, which is a mass start and race to the finish. Thomas started his day with a win while medal contenders like Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter and Jan-Willem van Schip finished in the top 10. American Grant Koontz tried to make an attack in the race, but lost steam and finished 15th.
The tempo race saw Belgium’s Fabio van den Bossche claim the victory. The Belgian 23-year-old has been vocal about his focus on the omnium and the desire to win it in Paris. He earned 40 points in the race, which launched him into first overall with 76 points. Koontz earned 24 points in the race, which had him in 14th after two races.
The elimination race saw some controversy when the judges seemed to have difficulty determining who was eliminated. In the end, Hayter was victorious as the last man standing. He catapulted up the standings to fifth, entering the final race. The Brit sat in the font the entire race and controlled the pace, which was impressive in the packed field. Koontz managed to avoid elimination for several laps when he seemed to be out, but in the end only secured 6 points in the race to drop to 16th overall in the standings.
Van den Bossche entered the points race on top of the standings, but with double points anyone near the top was still in contention, including van den Bossche and Hayter. With 24 laps to go, Thomas was in the lead of both the points race and overall standings, when disaster almost struck as he crashed to the ground. He lucked out that it wasn’t a sprint lap, as he quickly hopped back on his bike and regained his position without losing his lead on the standings.
On the 9th sprint lap, Thomas made his race-winning move to earn points. After the move, he led the field with 158 points, a 9-point lead on second place Luri Leitao, and only seven laps to go.
As the bell rang on the final lap, the crowd rose to their feet. Thomas was able to sit up and celebrate as he crossed the finish line in first to win the gold medal. World champion Leitao finished second while van den Bossche was delighted to win bronze.
Koontz finished 16th overall in his Olympic debut. It’s the only event the United States qualified for in men’s track cycling at the Paris Olympics.
Men’s individual sprint results: Carlin survives scare
The men’s individual sprint medal races will feature four favorites: Netherlands Harrie Lavreysen, Australia’s Matthew Richardson, Netherland’s Jeffrey Hoogland and Great Britain’s Jack Carlin. They all had very different experiences to get there.
The first two quarterfinal matchups saw Lvreysen and Richardson advance easily, needing only two out of three races, to advance to the semifinals over their competitors.
In the third matchup, Hoogland needed three races to finish off Great Britain’s Hamish Turnbull. Hoogland already won gold in the men’s team sprint for the Netherlands.
The final matchup was the most contested of the day. Japan’s Ota Kaiya upset Carlin in the first round.
It looked like Ota had pulled off the improbable win in their second head-to-head battle, when he crossed the finish line first. However, there was contact during the race and the judges ruled that Ota should be relegated and forfeit the race, which caused the duo to face off again in a winner-take-all.
In the final race, Carlin controlled the pace from the sprint lane with two laps to go when the pair again came in close contact, but the race was ruled clean, and Carlin edged out Ota to advance to the semifinals.
Women’s keirin results: Andrews adds to Olympic gold
The gold medal race saw a heavy-hitting field with New Zealand’s Ellise Andrews, Great Britain’s Emma Finucane, and Germany’s Emma Hinze. Andrews took the lead early and held it through the final lap to win with a time of 10.744.
It looked like she made her attack too early, as world sprint champion Funicane challenged, however, Andrews held off Funicane for the gold. Netherland’s Hetty van de Wouw snuck in for the silver, while Finucane finished with the bronze.
Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich found herself riding in the seventh-place race after a disappointing semifinal race where she pulled up near the finish. The German had a busy competition schedule, as she already won bronze in the women’s team sprint on Monday. She’d make the most of it and finish first in the heat. France’s Mathilde Gros capitalized on the home crowd cheer to finish .087 behind the German.
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