PARIS: Flying Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen cemented his status as the king of sprint cycling Friday with the defence of his Olympic crown, while Italy upset Britain to win the women's madison.
On another thrilling day at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, Germany's Lea Friedrich was also firing, blitzing to a new world record 10.029secs in the women's sprint qualifying.
Lavreysen, who has won the last five world titles, showed tremendous poise and power to outgun Australia's Matthew Richardson and clinch the best-of-three gold medal series 2-0.
Britain's Jack Carlin beat the Netherlands' Jeffery Hoogland to win bronze and match his performance from Tokyo three years ago.
"I haven't been beaten a lot in these last years, and if I was beaten it was by Matthew," said Lavreysen, who celebrated by lifting his bike above his head, soaking in the adulation.
"Seeing him here in the finals, it was hard. I expected it to be hard. The 200m times (in qualifying) were close together.
"A lot of respect to him. He was the best opponent to have in the Olympic final."
The 27-year-old was nevertheless in charge, winning the first race by 0.024 and the second by 0.047.
Victory made him only the fourth cyclist to defend an Olympic men's sprint title since it was first raced in 1896, alongside France's Daniel Morelon, German Jens Fiedler and Briton Jason Kenny.
It was his second gold of the Games after helping the Netherlands win the team sprint, with the chance of a third in the keirin.
Italian riders Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini powered to victory in the women's madison, which was held for only the second time at an Olympics.
The pair won three of the 12 sprints to finish on 37 points after a gruelling 120 laps, six clear of world champion British duo Neah Evans and Elinor Barker, the Netherlands third.
The madison is a two-person tactical relay event which features a mass start, with points accumulated from sprints every 10 laps.
Crucially, an extra 20 points can be earned if a team laps the field, which is what Italy managed to do, sending them surging up the leaderboard.
"We were motivated, really disappointed after fourth place in the team pursuit, and we showed that we are a great team," said Guazzini.
"I think at halfway nobody would believe we could win, but we never give up. We saw we had written Italy on our chest, and this gave us all the motivation in the world."
Consonni said she was overwhelmed.
"I can only say thanks to all the team, for all the people who believed in us," she said.
In other racing, Friedrich surged into the women's sprint quarter-finals after her record-breaking exploits.
New Zealand's newly-minted keirin gold medallist Ellesse Andrews also made the grade, having lowered the world record before Friedrich took it away from her.
Canadian defending champion Kelsey Mitchell – who had held the world record since 2019 until it fell on Friday – was another into the last eight, but had to go through the repechages.
Britain's Emma Finucane also progressed, looking to add Olympic gold to her 2023 world title.
She already has a gold and a bronze in Paris and is attempting to match the feat of Victoria Pendleton – the only other British woman to win sprint gold, at Beijing in 2008. - AFP