Ellesse Andrews has won four medals on the track. Photo / Photosport
Ellesse Andrews has won four medals on the track. Photo / Photosport
Ellesse Andrews has won a fourth and final medal on the track at the Commonwealth Games, and this one was the most dominant of them all.
Andrews has won gold in the women's keirin after a masterclass of power and strategy throughout the event.
In all three races, Andrews hit the front in the final laps and simply overpowered her opponents who were helpless to come past her.
In her first heat, she rode the opposition off her wheel on the final lap to win, in the second round she remarkably rode on the front for the final three laps to win in absurdly easy fashion, and in the final she made a move to storm past a pair of Welsh riders and held off England's Sophie Capewell by 0.05 seconds to go one better than her breakout silver medal in the event at the Olympics.
"I'm so overwhelmed," Andrews told Sky Sport. "I came here wanting to do my absolute best and leave everything out on the track, but I never could have imagined that this would be the final outcome."
Andrews explained her strategy to hit the front early came via a mentality to leave nothing to chance.
"I like to put myself in a position to win and to do that you need to do it in every round, you have to qualify in the first and second races to make it to the final so I'm racing every race like it's my last to ensure I can make it through the rounds."
However, that ruthless strategy was juxtaposed by her relaxed demeanour pre-race, which the 22-year-old says was crucial to maintaining a good mindset.
"I was really relaxed, I just wanted to come out here and have some fun.
"I've been so happy with my campaign and I wanted to go as hard as I could but it was most important for me that I had fun and enjoyed myself, because you're in such a good relaxed mindset when you're thinking about that stuff. The rest of the race just follows."
Andrews adds the keirin gold to her golds in the team sprint and individual sprint, as well as the silver medal she was credited with for helping out the team pursuit squad.
Ellesse Andrews has won four medals on the track. Photo / Photosport
An hour Andrews won her third gold, Aaron Gate joined her in the golden triple club, winning the men's 40km points race.
Gate, who previously took gold in the team pursuit and individual pursuit, put on a classy showing in the points race, hitting the lead with 100 laps to go and then strategically and consistently picking off points with the help of a perfect team performance.
His teammate Campbell Stewart took silver to add to his team pursuit gold, with Corbin Strong, gold medallist in the scratch race, playing the role of faithful teammate, keeping the race together to ensure none of New Zealand's rivals could take a lap on the field and the 20 points that came with it.
Strong's commitment to the domestique role was such that he remained pointless until 10 laps to go, while Gate finished on 45, collecting points on 13 of the 16 sprints that were held every 10 laps to decide the victor.
England's Ollie Wood tried to disrupt Gate's ride to gold but New Zealand's tactical masterclass ensured they weren't troubled, with a three-point lead with 70 laps to go slowly being extended with each passing sprint.
Wood looked set for silver but the Kiwi team, aware that Gate had gold sown up if he stayed on the bike, decided to have Gate lead out Stewart for the final sprint worth double points.
Stewart won the sprint in style to nab silver ahead of Wood and deliver a 1-2 for New Zealand in a race completely controlled by the Kiwi trio, ending an excellent campaign on the track at the Games which saw the New Zealand team take 13 medals, with eight golds and four silvers.
One of the four medals gained today came from Michaela Drummond picking up her second medal of the Games, taking an excellent silver in the women's 10km scratch race.
Drummond found the wheel of cycling superstar and home favourite Laura Kenny in the final laps of the race, as Kenny charged down Scotland's Neah Evans.
The 24-year-old Drummond was unable to come around the powerful Kenny on the line, but her tactics saw her fly to a second silver.
The race had earlier been halted when Drummond's teammate Bryony Botha was involved in a crash which forced her out of the race.
After India's Meenakshi crashed, Botha was unable to avoid the fallen cyclist sliding to the bottom of the track, riding over the top of her. Botha came away relatively unscathed compared to Meenakshi, who was stretchered off the velodrome, but Drummond ensured New Zealand's chances didn't go to waste.
Earlier at the velodrome, Nick Kergozou De La Boessiere finished fifth in the men's 1km time trial.
The Kiwi started slow but flew home in the final 500 metres to sit third, but had to wait on the final three riders – two of whom, Nicholas Paul (bronze) and Matt Glaetzer (gold) stormed past his time to consign him to fifth.
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