The fourth day of Olympic competition in the Izu velodrome saw the British and Dutch heroes power to more glory as Matthew Walls (GBR) won gold in the men’s Omnium and Shanne Braspennincx dominated the women’s keirin. The Oranje stars also impressed in the men’s individual sprint but the iconic Briton Jason Kenny was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
“When I crossed the line I thought: ‘what have I done now?’” Braspennincx said to the Dutch media as she brought the Netherlands another Olympic title in the keirin, five years after Elis Ligtlee’s triumph in Rio. “I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I tried to just focus on racing well again. That helped. The title remains in the Netherlands!"
Walls had more time to consider his success as he dominated the first event of the Omnium and stayed in the lead until the end of the points race. His performances brought Team GB their first gold medal in the track events of Tokyo 2020, and he duly celebrated with the Union Jack flag.
After some already thrilling first rounds on Wednesday, the quarter-finals of the women’s keirin brought more drama on the track. In the first heat, Great Britain’s Katy Marchant and the Netherlands’ Laurine van Riessen couldn’t qualify after they hit the deck. The German and French hopes – Lea Sophie Friedrich (gold medallist on Monday in the women’s team sprint) and Mathilde Gros – were eliminated in the 2nd heat, before the Japanese star Yuka Kobayashi went out in the 3rd and final heat!
Ukraine’s Olena Starikova and Liubov Basova dominated the first heat of the semi-finals alongside New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews. Among the women they defeated, Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee found herself out of the race for a new medal in the keirin, nine years after taking bronze in London. Reigning UCI World Champion Emma Hinze (GER) also lost her shot at a podium in the second heat, won by Shanne Braspennincx (NED) with an important margin over Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest.
Braspennincx was on such a roll there was no holding her back as she powered to her first gold medal in an intercontinental event. Andrews finished 2nd and Genest rounded out the podium.
The participants in the Omnium had to put their versatility to use in four events in a little over two and a half hours to battle for gold. They were the first in action on Thursday, with the Scratch Race to kick off the session, and immediately showed their determination to put the hammer down.
Denmark’s Niklas Larsen, France’s Benjamin Thomas, Great Britain’s Matthew Walls, the Netherlands’ Jan-Willem van Schip and Kazakhstan’s Artyom Zakharov managed to lap the field and thus ensure they’d take the five first positions. Australia’s Sam Welsford dominated the bunch sprint after 40 laps and Walls was the first across the line among the riders who had attacked earlier, thus taking 40 points for the Omnium standings, ahead of Thomas (38) and Van Schip (36).
The Dutch rider (winner of the points race at the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and silver medallist in the Omnium in the 2020 UCI Worlds) displayed his power and craft in the Tempo Race, accumulating points and lapping the field at the last moment to dominate this second event. Van Schip, Thomas and Walls were then tied with 76 points after two races in the Omnium. Larsen followed with 62.
Already a silver medallist in Wednesday’s team pursuit, the Dane only came 8th in the Elimination, losing more ground to Walls who finished 2nd in the event behind Elia Viviani (ITA). The Briton was back in the lead of the Omnium with 114 points, but Van Schip (110) and Thomas (106) were still on his heels, setting up a major battle for the final event, the points race.
Walls scored big points from the start to add the Olympic gold medal (153 points total on the day) to his victory in the 2020 European Championships and bronze in the 2020 UCI World Championships. New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart (129 points) surged at the last moment to take silver ahead of Viviani (124 points), who had been consistently strong during the whole points race to make up for the ground he had lost earlier.
The sprinters returned to action on Thursday with the 1/8 finals. The Oranje stars Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen resumed the racing in the same dominant fashion they had displayed the previous days: winning the first two heats, against two Malaysian riders, Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom.
Awang had survived the repechages in the previous two rounds, but this time he was facing a legendary figure of the Olympic Games: Great Britain’s Jason Kenny, who had lost his 1/8 final against ROC’s Denis Dmitriev. The Brit moved forward while Awang and Japan’s Yuta Wakimoto were out.
France’s Sébastien Vigier dominated the second repechage. Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul and Germany’s Maximilian Levy had already gone through this first round of the day without too much trouble.
The format moved to a ‘best of three races’ in the quarter-finals, and the Dutchmen were still flying. Hoogland and Lavreysen won in two races, against Vigier and Kenny. Carlin was equally dominant against Levy while Dmitriev needed the decider to move past UCI World Cycling Centre trainee Paul.
The semi-finals and finals of the men’s individual sprint will be among the main events of day 5 in the velodrome on Friday. Medals will also be awarded in the women’s Madison, raced for the first time at the Olympic Games, while action will also include the first rounds of the women’s individual sprint.