Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Track Cycling [DAY 7]

August 11, 2024

Olympic Games Paris 2024 🇫🇷 – Track Cycling – Day 7 – The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, Paris

Women’s omnium – 🥇
An omnium is a multiple race event. The current Olympic format features four different types of race. The entire event is contested within a single day, but there are breaks between the different races. The winner of the omnium is the cyclist who obtains the most points across the four races. The winner of each of the first three races earns 40 points, the second-place cyclist earns 38, the third-place rider 36, and so forth, and the final race has special scoring rules. The races in the omnium are:

• Scratch race: Mass start race; first to cross the finish line is the winner. Distance is 7.5 km (30 laps).
• Tempo race: The new race for 2020, the distance is 7.5 km (30 laps). After the first five laps, the winner of each lap earns one point, and lapping the field earns 20 points. If a rider loses a lap, they lose 20 points. The winner of the tempo race is the cyclist with the most points (the points earned within the tempo race, i.e. for winning each lap and for lapping the field, do not count for the omnium total; they are used only to rank the cyclists’ final placings for this race).
• Elimination race: Every two laps, the last-place cyclist is eliminated.
• Points race: A 20 km (80 lap) points race, with points earned for sprints (5/3/2/1, every 10 laps, with double points for the final sprint) and for lapping the field (20 points). If a rider loses a lap, they lose 20 points. The points earned within the points race (i.e. for winning each sprint and for lapping the field) count towards the omnium total.

There is only one round of competition.

Reigning Olympic and World Champion Jennifer Valente of the United States secured the gold medal in the final cycling event of the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday. Just four days earlier, Valente had also claimed gold in the women’s team pursuit.

The American showcased her dominance in the first three events of the women’s omnium, winning the scratch race and elimination race, and securing second place in the tempo race. Heading into the decisive points race, she had amassed 118 points, 10 more than Australia’s Georgia Baker and 22 points on Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster.

Bold attacks shook up the standings, setting the stage for an intense battle for the podium in the fourth and final event, while Valente held onto her lead. The American star ultimately clinched victory with 144 points. Poland’s Daria Pikulik earned the silver medal with 131 points, and New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston secured the bronze with 125 points.

“I went into the day to ride each of the four events as a standalone basically, and I think I did that pretty well and it worked out. I definitely went into the points race looking at the couple of riders that were trailing me, and the points gap dropped a little bit once you get further down the startlist. I was pretty happy to let other people take points and let the race evolve,” Valente said.

“It’s fantastic [to have won two gold medals]. This has been a very long week, with the team pursuit qualifying a week ago, and I’m really excited to pull it off on the last day.”

Pikulik faced an officiating error during the elimination race when she was mistakenly eliminated by the race commissaires. The mistake was corrected, and the race was yellow-flagged to allow her to rejoin the pack. She was ultimately eliminated in 10th place.

“I can’t describe in words how proud I am of myself today. I didn’t start the Omnium in the way that I hoped for, and also in the elimination race, I don’t know what happened. It was like ‘mistake Pikulik is out’ and I was like, how is this possible?” the Polish rider said.

“I was not happy about it but, I also feel a little bit angry. And after that, I just told myself you just go full gas from the start, no matter if you will be OK for the finish and that will be enough energy. You just need to go full gas to be proud of yourself that you did it on your own and I did it.”

Wollaston also won the silver in the team pursuit at Paris 2024.

“I actually didn’t even know that I was in the bronze medal competition until maybe 10 laps to go. And I heard my name, and I looked up on the board. It was the first time I looked up and thought, ‘Oh my god, yeah’,” Wollaston said.

Women’s sprint – 🥇
The women’s track sprint competition encompasses a qualifying round followed by a series of knockout and repechage rounds. The qualifying round consists of each rider completing three laps in turn with their time taken from their final lap. The top 24 riders progress to the 1/32 finals.

Men’s keirin – 🥇
Keirin races involve up to 7 cyclists each (though the 2020 format has no races with more than 6). The cyclists follow a pace motorcycle for 3 laps (750 m); the motorcycle then pulls away and the cyclists race for another 3 laps. These distances are changed from the 2016 Games, shortening the paced section from 5.5 laps and lengthening the unpaced sprint from 2.5 laps. The motorcycle starts at 30 km/h and increases speed to 50 km/h before it pulls off.

Harrie Lavreysen broke Team GB’s exceptional winning streak in the men’s Keirin when he delivered his third gold medal for the Netherlands at the 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday.

Australians Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer took second and third respectively, as British rider Jack Carlin crashed out of the men’s final following wins in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Lavreysen powered to the front of the fast race and nobody could get back to the man who claimed his fifth Olympic title.

Harrie Lavreysen broke Team GB’s exceptional winning streak in the men’s Keirin when he delivered his third gold medal for the Netherlands at the 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday.

Australians Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer took second and third respectively, as British rider Jack Carlin crashed out of the men’s final following wins in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Lavreysen powered to the front of the fast race and nobody could get back to the man who claimed his fifth Olympic title.

Results Women’s omnium – 🥇 :

Results Women’s sprint – 🥇 :

Results Men’s keirin – 🥇 :

FINAL

SEMI-FINALS

QUARTER-FINALS

FIRST ROUND