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 went through to the semi-finals with two straight victories. Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) and Jack Carlin (Great Britain) both won after losing the first race. Lavreysen and Richardson both won their semis in two straight races to make the final. Carlin and Lavreysen would win the first races in their respective finals. Hoogland would tie things up with Carlin but Lavreysen would win the second race to sort gold. The third race was restarted after a collision. It would be a tight race but Jack Carlin would hold 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-final. Jack Carlin (Great Britain), Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Matthew Richardson (Australia) won the quarter-finals. Carlin took the first semi by a large margin. In the second semi, it was Richardson who also won with quite a gap. Shinji Nakano (Japan) led as the derny left the track and it was Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) who went into the lead with two laps to go. Lavreysen would go over the top heading into the last lap and Richardson would give chase heading into the final bend. A crash on the final bend would allow 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 a massive Olympic record in the qualifying 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. Australiastruggled, with Matthew Glaetzer struggling to hold onto the wheel and they would come up against France for bronze. Australia would switch up the 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
In qualifying, Denmark would lead at the first three checkpoints but were overtaken by Great Britain and Australiawho went fastest. In the semi-finals, Great Britain started faster but by halfway Denmark was ahead. It was only with 250m to go that Britain took the lead back and got to the gold medal matchup. Australia were far more dominant in making the 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 got ragged and were broken up. In the final, there was nothing between the teams for the first 1000m. Australia would go up by 0.2 just after halfway. With 500m to go, it was still 0.170. With the gold possibly in play, Britain would have a 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) attacked at the bell and soon gained 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) would escape 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 from Mora/Torres (Spain). Imamura/Kuboki (Japan) were the next team to gain a lap, going into bronze. 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
In the scratch race, there were numerous attempts at getting away but it was a group of four that finally managed to get a lap. It was won by Benjamin Thomas (France) ahead of Niklas Larsen (Denmark). In the tempo race, it was Fabio Van Den Bossche (Belgium) who won ahead of Iuri Leitao (Portugal). That left Van Den Bossche ahead of Larsen overall. 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 to go in the points race Thomas had gone into the overall lead but the top three were separated by just four points. Thomas and Leitao would take another lap though and Thomas would not seem in danger of losing the gold at any time.
🥇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) was knocked out before the quarter-finals. Friedrich, Emma Finucane (Great Britain), Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) and Hetty van De Wouw (Netherlands) all went through to the semi-finals without needing a third race. Andrews would go through to the final with two straight wins. It would take 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 went out. In the first semi-final, Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) won to go through. Lea Friedrich (Germany) was 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 would break the team record in the time trial. In the heats, the Netherlands would come from behind to beat China. Germany would set a world record when beating Mexico. New Zealand would beat 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 would go out strongest with almost half a second after 250m. The Netherlands would head back towards Germany but not quickly enough to shut that gap. New Zealand would lead the final 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
United States would start fastest in qualifying but New Zealand were able to get the fastest time. Great Britain was in third, over a second behind the United States. In the semi-finals, the United States would not relinquish the lead for the whole race. New Zealand were more impressive in winning the other semi-final. In the bronze medal matchup, Italy would go out harder only for Britain to come back over the last 1500m and win by over two seconds. In the final United States would take the early lead. The first bit of danger would come 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 first couple of sprints were shared out. At halfway Valente/Williams (United States) led by a point ahead of Barker/Evans (Great Britain) but there was hardly anything separating a number of teams. Van Belle/Van Der Duin(Netherlands) would be the first team to take a lap, vaulting them into the overall lead. Guazzini/Consonni (Italy) would follow suit going into the lead. With one sprint to go, Italy led the Netherlands by nine with Great Britain seven behind. Britain would win 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 saw a pack still together with three laps to go. It would be Jennifer Valente (United States) ahead of Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada). Lara Gilespie (Ireland) would get a lap early in the tempo race. That allowed her to take the win ahead of Valente. The elimination race was paced by Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) but she could only finish fourth as Valente went on to win, giving her a lead of ten from Georgia Baker (Australia). Several riders would gain a lap, including Valente who just extended her lead and made the battle for the podium places intense. With two sprints to go, Ally Wollaston (New Zealand) had gone into second, taking a second lap. The penultimate sprint also saw riders complete their move to gain laps. Heading into the final set of 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.
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