Izu, – British duo Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald streaked away for the first-ever Olympic gold in the women’s Madison at the Izu velodrome on Friday, as Kenny became the first woman to win five Games golds on the track.
Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen then came from behind to take the glory in a thrilling men’s sprint, beating compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland just like in the 2020 world championships final.
The men’s Madison was axed from the Olympic programme after 2008 because there was no women’s race but now both sexes are contesting the event at Tokyo 2020, with the men’s race on Saturday.
In the women’s Madison, the result rarely looked in doubt despite the race lasting 120 laps with the British pair utterly dominant ahead of Denmark and the Russians.
“It’s unbelievable. I am just so glad. I have never wanted to win a race so badly in my life,” Kenny told the BBC after becoming the first British woman to win a gold at three straight Olympic Games.
“To have Katie here – it feels like I am racing with my sister.”
Kenny, disappointed to only take silver in the team pursuit on Tuesday with Archibald, is Britain’s most decorated female cyclist but has fewer medals than her husband Jason, who boasts six Olympic golds and two silvers.
In the closest track cycling has to a relay, the Madison sees points won for two-cyclist teams in intermediate sprints during the race, with each team-mate taking turns at being the active racer.
The British duo made a great start by winning the first three sprints before the Netherlands pair of Amy Pieters and Kirsten Wild hit back.
A big crash involving several riders then hurt the Dutch team’s hopes and boosted the Britons, who kept up their big lead even through a second crash hitting the Australians and Belgians.
The British pair never looked back and won with 78 points with Danish pair Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth on 35 and Russians Gulnaz Khatuntseva and Mariia Novolodskaia on 26.
The Dutch pair of Lavreysen and Hoogland were equally dominant in the men’s sprint, with 2012 and 2016 champion Jason Kenny losing to Lavreysen in Thursday’s quarter-final.
The duo had helped the Netherlands to the team sprint title on Tuesday and their races for the individual title were predictably close.
Hoogland took the first race by half a wheel but his compatriot hit back in the second race after a more exciting bout of cat and mouse than usual in the sprint. Lavreysen just overhauled Hoogland and reached the line first to force a decider.
They again went off quicker than normally in a dramatic third race but Hoogland ran out of steam and Lavreysen triumphed for his first individual gold.
“It’s amazing, but I had so much pain after the third ride. I think we both knew we wanted to go from the front,” said Lavreysen.
Hoogland was so exhausted afterwards he needed help leaving the track.
“This is a new dimension of pain. I was so good in this final. I thought I had him in the second one, but he just came by. We had such long races, both wanted to go from the front, so that made the pace pretty quick,” he said.
Britain’s Jack Carlin sealed bronze after overpowering Russian Denis Dmitriev.
In qualifying for the women’s sprint heats, the 200 metre flying start Olympic record was broken three times with Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich ending up with the best time of 10.310 seconds. She looked impressive in the heats too ahead of Sunday’s final.
In total 17 riders beat the previous record on the quick Izu track.
Rio 2016 champion Kristina Vogel – paralysed in a training crash in 2018 – was enthusiastically commentating for German television, showing her love of cycling remains undimmed.
Source: Ghana News Agency