Track Cycling 2024 Paris Olympics Review

Men’s Individual Sprint

Mikhail Iakovlev (Israel) set the first really impressive time of the meeting by breaking the Olympic record. It was dispatched, first by Matthew Richardson (Australia) and then by Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) setting world records. Two of the top five seeds were knocked out in the round of sixteen as Iakovlev and Leigh Hoffman (Australia) were beaten by Hamish Turnbull (Great Britain) and Kaiya Ota (Japan) respectively. Lavreysen and Richardson both advanced to the semi-finals with two straight victories. Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) and Jack Carlin (Great Britain) fought back from first race losses to progress. Lavreysen and Richardson both won their semis in two straight races to make the final. Carlin and Lavreysen won the first races in their respective finals. Hoogland would tie things up with Carlin but Lavreysen won the second race to sort gold. The third race was restarted after a collision. It was a tight race but Jack Carlin held on to win bronze again. 

🥇Harrie Lavreysen 🇳🇱

🥈Matthew Richardson 🇦🇺

🥉Jack Carlin 🇬🇧

 

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction 

These two have been the strongest over the past years. I suggested Carlin would make the final but lose to Ota, who he almost went out to in the quarter-final. 

Men’s Keirin 

Jair Tjon En Fa (Suriname) was the biggest name to not progress to the quarter-finals. Jack Carlin (Great Britain), Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Matthew Richardson (Australia) each won a quarter-finals. Carlin took the first semi by a large margin. Richardson also won the second semi with quite a gap. In the final, Shinji Nakano (Japan) led as the dernypeeled off, butMatthew Glaetzer (Australia) surged into the lead with two laps to go. Lavreysen went over the top heading into the last lap and Richardson would give chase heading into the final bend. A dramatic crash on the final bend allowed Glaetzer to come through into bronze.

🥇Harrie Lavreysen 🇳🇱

🥈Matthew Richardson 🇦🇺

🥉Matthew Glaetzer 🇦🇺

Prediction analysis; 1 medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction 

Potentially tried too hard to go against the grain, picking Lavreysen. I got half of the final correct but again ignored the biggest and best names.  

Men’s Team Sprint

Netherlands set the tone in qualifying, with a massive Olympic record, going fastest ahead of Great Britain. The Netherlands would look imperious in their heat, setting another world record, going on to face Great Britain in the final. Australia struggled, with Matthew Glaetzer struggling to hold onto the wheel and they would come up against France for bronze. Australia switched positions for the bronze medal matchup and they were able to get a strong win. In the final, it felt the one question was whether the Netherlands could set another world record. They did, going sub-41 to dominate the final. 

🥇Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥈Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥉Australia 🇦🇺

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction 

Again, perhaps trying too hard to pick the upset. Japan aren’t as good as Great Britain and so it proved here. 

Men’s Team Pursuit

Denmark led qualifying at the first three checkpoints but were overtaken by Great Britain and Australia, who went fastest. In the semi-finals, Britain started stronger, yet by halfway Denmark was ahead. With 250m to go, Britain reclaimed the lead, securing their place in the gold medal matchup. Australia were far more dominant in their semi-final, setting an incredible world record. Denmark opened up a big gap in the bronze medal matchup but Italy would close it down as Denmark faltered and the crew broke apart. In the final, the first 1000m was virtually even. Australia would go up by 0.2 just after halfway. With 500m to go, the gap was just 0.170. With the gold possibly in play, Britain suffered a costly slip, ruling them out of the gold. 

🥇Australia 🇦🇺

🥈Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥉Italy 🇮🇹

 

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction 

I called the final four. Australia was the one I ignored who went on to win gold although given the fast-finish exploits of the Brits who knows what would have happened 

Men’s Madison

Kokas/Schmidbauer (Austria) launched an attack at the bell, soon gaining a lap. At the quarter-way stage, they had been overlapped meaning Leitao/Oliveira (Portugal) led but with no meaningful advantage. Consonni/Viviani (Italy) and Larsen/Morkov (Denmark) escaped before halfway taking the twenty points for a lap. That meant at the halfway stage, Italy led Denmark by eight points with an almost twenty-point gap back to Mora/Torres (Spain). Imamura/Kuboki (Japan) were the next team to gain a lap, going into the bronze-medal position. Rugovac/Vones (Czechia) would also get a lap with 45 laps to go. Over the following 25 laps, there would be numerous crashes. The Portuguese team would get a lap as well as the penultimate sprint to go into the lead. They led Italy by two points with Denmark a further two behind. Looking to seal gold, Denmark would relentlessly attack over the last few laps but Portugal remained strongest, taking the final sprint to secure gold. 

🥇Iuri Leitao/Rui Oliveira 🇵🇹

🥈Simone Consonni/Elia Viviani 🇮🇹

🥉Niklas Larsen/Michael Morkov 🇩🇰

Prediction analysis; 0 medalists correct

I mentioned the unpredictability of this event coming in. None of the medalists were massive surprises but I did not pick any of them 

Men’s Omnium 

The scratch race saw numerous breakaway attempts but it was a group of four that finally managed to get a lap. Benjamin Thomas (France) claimed victory ahead of Niklas Larsen (Denmark). In the tempo race, it was Fabio Van Den Bossche (Belgium) who won ahead of Iuri Leitao (Portugal), which moved Van Den Bossche into the overall lead ahead of Larsen. Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) won the elimination race. Van Den Bossche led Thomas by eight with Leitao and Tim Torn Teutenberg (Germany) four points behind. With forty laps remaining in the points race, Thomas had gone into the overall lead but the top three were separated by just four points. Thomas and Leitao gained another lap though and Thomas looked in complete control, sealing a gold.

🥇Benjamin Thomas 🇫🇷

🥈Iuri Leitao 🇵🇹

🥉Fabio Van Den Bossche 🇧🇪

Prediction analysis; 1 medalist correct

Thomas winning made a lot of sense. It always feels like getting off to a good start is so key in this event. 

Women’s Individual Sprint

The times were incredibly fast in qualifying. The Olympic record was broken six times and the World record twice with Lea Friedrich (Germany) the eventual world record holder. Mathilde Gros (France) suffered a shock exit before the quarter-finals. Friedrich, Emma Finucane (Great Britain), Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) and Hetty van De Wouw (Netherlands) all advanced through to the semi-finals without needing a third race. Andrews advanced through to the final with two straight wins whilst, it took three for Friedrich to join her. Andrews and Finucane would take the first sprints in the medal matchups. Finucane sealed bronze in race two. Andrews launched a long attack to win a sprint double. 

🥇Ellesse Andrews 🇳🇿

🥈Lea Friedrich 🇩🇪

🥉Emma Finucane 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct

I was not far off with my quarter-final prediction. Finucane did not look in the best form, maybe the scheduling harmed her but everyone else also went through the same.

Women’s Keirin

The biggest name eliminated in the early stages was Martha Bayona (Colombia). In the quarter-finals, Kelsey Mitchell (Canada), Lauriane Genest (Canada) and Mina Sato (Japan) all were eliminated. In the first semi-final, Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) powered through to take the win with Lea Friedrich (Germany) controversially eliminated as she was pushed up the boards. Hetty Van De Wouw (Netherlands) took the second semi-final with Mathilde Gros (France) missing out on the final. In the final, Daniela Gaxiola (Mexico) led as the derny went off track, but Andrews would go into the lead with two laps to go and she was never overtaken. 

🥇Ellesse Andrews 🇳🇿

🥈Hetty Van De Wouw 🇳🇱

🥉Emma Finucane 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 1 medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction 

Again, I got half the final correct but mainly picked the wrong medalists. 

Women’s Team Sprint

Great Britain broke the team record in the time trial. In the heats, the Netherlands came from behind to defeat China, while Germany set a world record when beating Mexico. New Zealand smashed that world record in the following heat to guarantee a spot in the final only for Great Britain to go even faster in the final heat. In the bronze medal matchup, Germany exploded out the block with almost half a second lead after 250m. The Netherlands fought back, closing the margin, but not quickly enough to overturn the deficit. In the final, New Zealand led at 250m but Great Britain would soon take control setting a brilliant world record. 

🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥈New Zealand 🇳🇿

🥉Germany 🇩🇪

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct

I was surprised by New Zealand but the form of Ellesse Andrews was able to drag them to success here. 

Women’s Team Pursuit

Qualifying began with the United States setting the early pace but New Zealand posted the fastest time. Great Britain were in third, over a second behind the United States. In the semi-finals, the United States dominated their race, leading from start to finish. New Zealand were more impressive in winning the other semi-final. In the bronze medal matchup, Italy went out hard, but Britain mounted a powerful comeback over the last 1500m and won by over two seconds. In the final, United States would take the early lead. The first bit of danger came at 3500m as the trio began to detach. They eventually made it back together and would take gold. 

🥇United States 🇺🇸

🥈New Zealand 🇳🇿

🥉Great Britain 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct

I basically ignored the United States in this event and that cost me. 

Women’s Madison 

The opening sprints were shared evenly amongst the teams. At halfway, Valente/Williams (United States) led by a point, ahead of Barker/Evans (Great Britain) with several teams within touching distance. Van Belle/Van Der Duin (Netherlands) were the first team to take a lap, moving into the overall lead. Guazzini/Consonni (Italy) did the same to take top spot. Heading into the final sprint, Italy led the Netherlands by nine with Great Britain seven behind. Britain claimed the final sprint, sealing silver. 

🥇Vittoria Guazzini/Chiara Consonni 🇮🇹

🥈Elinor Barker/Neah Evans 🇬🇧

🥉Lisa Van Belle/Maike Van Der Duin 🇳🇱

Prediction analysis; 1 medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction 

Italy and the Netherlands surprised me with their performances here.  

Women’s Omnium 

The scratch race stayed together with no one gaining a lap. Jennifer Valente (United States) managed to get the win ahead of Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada). In the tempo race, Lara Gilespie (Ireland) gained an early lap, allowing her to take the win ahead of Valente. The elimination race was controlled by Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) but she could only finish fourth as Valente took the win, extending her lead to ten from Georgia Baker (Australia). Multiple riders gained a lap, including Valente who extended her lead as the battle for the podium places intensified. With two sprints remaining, Ally Wollaston (New Zealand) moved into second after taking a second lap. The penultimate sprint saw riders complete lap gains. Heading into the final laps, Valente led by fifteen from Daria Pikulik (Poland) with Wollaston a further ten points back, three points ahead of Kopecky. 

🥇Jennifer Valente 🇺🇸

🥈Daria Pikulik 🇵🇱

🥉Ally Wollaston 🇳🇿

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct

I perhaps tried to be different with the outside pick in Wollaston whereas Valente was the obvious pick.