photo Ci
Mateusz Rudyk closed the top “10” in the Olympic keirin, which is part of the games in Paris. The Polish representative advanced to the semi-finals, but was unable to fight for the highest positions in the following races. Harrie Lavreysen reached for the Olympic gold, thus ticking off the last item on his to-do list. At this point, the Dutchman has already achieved everything!
The final day of the Olympic Games in Paris was also the last phase of competition on the velodrome. In the early afternoon, the men competed in the keirin, in which Mateusz Rudyk competed. The Pole made it to the quarterfinals without any major problems, where he was awaited by, among others, Matthew Richardson and Jeffrey Hoogland.
After the start of the race, New Zealander Sam Dakin jumped into the lead in a flash. Meanwhile, the Pole, riding in last place, was guarding the wheel of the experienced Jeffrey Hoogland, from which he jumped only at the end of the competition. Our representative did well in the end and advanced to the semi-final from third place. However, the aforementioned Dutchman did not manage to do so, ending the games with one medal – in the team sprint.
Mateusz Rudyk also started the semi-final race in last place, but quickly moved to the front. In the end, however, he paid for his earlier effort and took the last, sixth place. Jack Carlin, Shinji Nakano and Matthew Glaetzer advanced to the final. Harrie Lavreysen, Matthew Richardson and Muhammad Shah Sahrom advanced from the second race to compete for medals. Their success was, however, overshadowed by the crash of Hamish Turnbull and Luka Spiegel. However, both competitors got up from the boards on their own.
The Briton was unable to make it to the B final, in which Mateusz Rudyk competed. The Pole… once again drew the last position, but this time he rode more conservatively, keeping an eye on Kevin Quintero. With 1.5 laps to go, he started a strong finish, but was overtaken by the other cyclists and took 10th place. The best White-and-Red in the sprint competitions thus ends the Olympic Games with two places in the top ten. A few days ago, he took 5th place in the sprint.
After the race with Mateusz Rudyk, it was time to fight for the medals. Shinji Nakano, Matthew Glaetzer, Jack Carlin, Muhammad Shah Sahrom, Matthew Richardson and Harrie Lavreysen, who was dreaming of the only missing title, took part. Matthew Glaetzer, who had Shinji Nakano on his wheel, was the first to start. However, towards the end, the best competitors, Harrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson, came to the fore and crossed the finish line in that order. The fight for third place was fierce and ended with a huge crash, in which Carlin, Sahrom and Nakano were injured. Matthew Glaetzer, who was riding last, took advantage of this and finished the competition with a bronze medal.
From the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines for Naszosie.pl, Kacper Krawczyk
