August 9/24 15:12 pm - Gold Medals for Italy & Netherlands on Day 5

Posted by Editoress on 08/9/24
 

Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands provided further proof that he is the fastest man in cycling on Friday, when he successfully defended his Olympic Sprint title, to take his second gold medal of these Games. Italy won a hard fought women's Madison to win their first cycling gold of these Games. Canada had mixed results, with Kelsey Mitchell advancing to tomorrow's competition in the women's Sprint, while Lauriane Genest did not. In the Madison, the Canadian team of Ariane Bonhomme and Maggie Coles-Lyster did not finish.

Lavreysen did not lose a ride on his way to the gold medal, meeting up against Matthew Richardson (Australia), as well as setting a world record in qualifying. He took the title in two straight rides, overpowering the Australian easily. In the bronze medal final it took three rides for Jack Carlin (Great Britain) to beat Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands). Canadians Tyler Rorke and Nick Wammes  were classified 21st and 22nd, respectively, in the overall standings.

In the women's Sprint, the top four riders in qualifying all beat the previous world record of 10.154 seconds, set by Kelsey Mitchell in 2019, with Lea Friedrich (Germany) almost breaking the ten second barrier with a time of 10.029 seconds. Both Mitchell and Genest lost their first rides and had to move on by winning the repechage. They also both lost in the next round, with Genest going up against Friedrich. Mitchell managed to win her repechage, but Genest did not, and is out of the competition.

"I think we got a little bit of a rude awakening," admitted Mitchell. "The top ten girls all went under 10.3 [seconds], which is absolutely insane. It's fast, it's so fast, and the girls are strong. I had to go through two reps, and I'm just happy I made it through. It will be a big day tomorrow. In the Sprint there is only one other person to beat across the line, not a moto and five other riders, but there are still a lot of tactics involved. I'm in the ballpark, but there's a big gap between the first three and the last three in the top-10. I'm going to do my best, so we'll see what happens."

"The 200 [qualifier] is pretty important," said Genest, "because the first matches are a little easier [when you are higher ranked]. I didn't qualify as high as I was expecting, and I was shocked by the level, it's sad to say, because I thought I was part of it, and there was the realization that maybe I wasn't. It was a battle for every sprint; there were no easy sprints."

Today finished off Genest's 2024 Olympic experience. "I'm sad it is already over. I was fighting really hard to get another chance to race, and I really wanted to race tomorrow. I'll come tomorrow to watch Kelsey and cheer for her."

In the Madison, the Canadian duo were riding together in the event for only the second time, and were quickly out of contention, getting lapped multiple times before dropping out. Italy was one of only two teams to take a lap of the field; the other was the Netherlands. While the Italians held onto a narrow lead for most of the race, as others faded they did not, and were able to coast to the win in the final laps. The Netherlands were overtaken by Great Britain in the final sprint, when the Brits scored maximum points and the Dutch scored none.

Results