Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 8:11 PM
Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland have qualified for the quarter finals of the individual sprint tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. On the first day of the royal sprint event, the Dutch track stars had few problems in their heats.
For Lavreysen, the sprint tournament could not have started better. In the 200-meter qualifications, the Dutchman first saw Mikhail Yakovlev first skate an Olympic record in 9.152 seconds. Then Matthew Richardson improved Nicholas Paul’s world record from 2019 to 9.091 seconds. Lavreysen then showed why he is the best of the best and skated himself into the history books with 9.088 seconds.
Lavreysen then advanced to the quarter finals by beating Maximilian Dörnbach, Rayan Helal and Yuta Obara. Hoogland had qualified sixth and eventually reached the quarter finals via Vasilijus Lendel, Mateusz Rudyk and Azizulhasni Awang. Keirin world champion Kevin Quintero and home favourite Sebastian Vigier, among others, had already been eliminated from the sprint tournament.
Hoogland will face Hamish Turnbull in the quarter finals. Lavreysen will face Mateusz Rudyk, one of the winners of the repechages of the eighth finals. The quarter finals up to the finals are about two won heats. If necessary, a third decisive heat will be driven. The quarter finals and the final for places 5 to 8 are scheduled for Thursday. The semi-finals and finals will be driven on Friday.
Women ride the Keirin
Hetty van de Wouw and Steffie van der Peet have started the Keirin tournament. Van de Wouw qualified for the quarter finals by convincingly winning her preliminary round. Van der Peet needed the repechages to also advance to the quarter finals. There was a lot of fuss about this match afterwards, because the bell for the last round only sounded at the finish. This did not change the result.
Van der Peet in action during her repechage round – photo: Cor Vos
Van der Peet will compete in the first heat on Thursday against the likes of 2018 world champion Nicky Degrendele, Lea Friedrich, the world champion of 2021 and 2022, and current world champion Ellesse Andrews. Van de Wouw will compete in the second heat against the great British talent Emma Finucane. The quarterfinals are scheduled for 17:18. The semifinals and the final will also be played later in the evening.
