A Historic Day for British Cycling

On the last day of the Olympic track program three sets of medals were decided, and August 16 will be written in golden letters in the history of British cycling.

The run of medal races opened with the sixth event of the women’s omnium. Before the points race, the main favorite, Britain’s three-time Olympic champion Laura Trott, had a comfortable lead. The 24-point lead over her main rivals built up over the previous five events let her pick what she wanted from a wide range of tactical options. As the race showed, the key to her chosen tactics was not to let her main rivals take a lap and, at the same time, to use opportunities to add points. It must be said that Laura handled it brilliantly, and at no point in the race did anyone have any doubt about her success.

 

 

Laura’s brilliant performance was crowned with a historic result: she won the fourth Olympic gold of her career and became the first British woman in history with such a haul!

 

 

Then it was the women sprinters’ turn. Here one Briton made it into each of the two medal finals. In the bronze final the sprint was convincingly won by the young Englishwoman Katy Marchant. Katy’s win made it clear that no British rider would return home from the Rio Olympics without a medal.

 

 

In the gold final the experienced German Kristina Vogel left Becky James no chance and added an individual Rio gold to the team sprint gold she won in London.

 

 

The last set of medals was decided in the men’s keirin. There were two false starts in the race; by the referees’ decision all athletes were allowed into both restarts, but before this was announced, the temperature at the velodrome reached its peak. In the end the third start was successful.

 

 

Though the race was extremely nervous, Britain’s Jason Kenny won convincingly.

 

 

Jason’s win was achieved under special pressure, which undoubtedly multiplied its value. This pressure came from the medal’s historic nature: it is Jason’s sixth Olympic gold, equaling the record of the legendary Sir Chris Hoy.

 

 

To conclude, here is the table of track medals, which clearly shows the British dominance at yet another Olympic Games — which has already caused a lot of talk in the cycling world.

 

ადგილი	ქვეყანა	ოქრო	ვერცხლი	ბრინჯაო	სულ
1	დიდი ბრიტანეთი	6	4	1	11
2	ნიდერლანდები	1	1	0	2
3	გერმანია	1	0	1	2
4	ჩინეთი	1	0	0	1
4	იტალია	1	0	0	1
6	აშშ	0	2	0	2
7	ავსტრალია	0	1	1	2
7	რუსეთი	0	1	1	2
9	ახალი ზელანდია	0	1	0	1

 

 

 

 

Featured image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com

Inside post thumbnail image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com

 

Special thanks to the Japanese photographer Yuzuru SUNADA for permission to use his works in our publications.

 

 

 

 

 

Translated from Georgian with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic), reviewed by the Velorbola editors.