Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand with her silver medal after coming second in the women's keirin final at Tokyo 2020. Photo / Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand with her silver medal after coming second in the women's keirin final at Tokyo 2020. Photo / Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club's Ellesse Andrews claimed a brilliant silver medal in the women's keirin on Thursday night, with a sensational ride in the final.
The 21-year-old had to do it the hard way – coming from the back of the field – and also had to contend with team tactics from the two Ukraine riders.
But as she has done consistently in Tokyo, Andrews produced a blistering final two laps, to claim silver, 0.061 of a second behind Dutch rider Shanne Braspennincx.
It was New Zealand's first cycling medal at these Games, capping off an extremely impressive two days for the rider.
"I can't stop crying," she told Sky Sport, still gasping for breath, minutes after crossing the line.
"I think in a keirin you just have to get the absolute right balance of physical effort and tactical execution. To get that right today and to get a silver medal, I'm so proud of myself. To come away from this championship with a silver medal is just amazing."
Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand wins a silver medal after coming second in the women's keirin final at Tokyo 2020. Photo / Alex Broadway/SWpix.com
Andrews had earlier produced a massive effort to take second in her semifinal, forced into a gruelling three-lap sprint, after being marooned at the back of the pack.
It was always going to take a toll, with less than 50 minutes before that race and the decider, but Andrews somehow overcame the fatigue.
It was an impressive field for the final, including Ukrainian Olena Starikova, the European champion, along with former world championship silver medallist Braspennincx, who had demonstrated her devastating finish in the quarter-finals. Another Ukrainian, Liubov Basova, had finished fifth at the 2016 Olympics.
Just like her semifinal, Andrews had an unfavourable draw, second from the outside, right at the top of the track.
She nestled in fifth place for the first three laps, as the two Ukrainians took the front two positions.
Andrews had to make a move, though it was from a difficult position and earlier than she would have liked, using up valuable energy.
But Andrews has proved multiple times in the Izu Velodrome she has a finish like few others – and it showed again. The Oceania champion got up to the front, just beside Braspennincx, and then found an extra gear, holding off the cavalry as they made a late charge.
She finished 0.087 seconds ahead of Canadian Lauriane Genest, with Starikova relegated to fourth.
Despite her relative inexperience, Andrews was regarded as a contender coming into the event, ranked fifth in the 2020 UCI world rankings.
She comes from great cycling stock. Her father Jon claimed two bronze medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland and also competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
It is New Zealand's second medal in the keirin, after Simon Van Velthooven's memorable bronze in 2012 in London.
Campbell Stewart of New Zealand celebrates coming second in the men's omnium (Silver). Photo / Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Forty minutes later, New Zealand claimed another silver medal in the men's track omnium.
Cambridge-based Campbell Stewart's Olympics were meant to be over - now, he's an Olympic medallist.
Stewart is a regular starter in Te Awamutu Sports Cycling's Spoken Cycles sponsored summer and winter series, although isn't affiliated to the Te Awamutu club.
The 23-year-old Kiwi cyclist claimed a stunning silver on the track on Thursday night, pulling off the most improbable of comebacks on the final lap of the final event to push New Zealand's medal tally to 19 – past the Rio haul to set a Kiwi Olympic record.
While Stewart is a former world champion in the discipline, the New Zealand selectors had opted for Aaron Gate to ride the omnium, until Gate's crash in last night's team pursuit ruled him out.
Stewart, a member of the team pursuit squad but overlooked for other events, was meant to be wrapping up his campaign after that race, but instead Gate's broken collarbone pushed the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist into the spotlight at short notice.
While Andrews was always in the medal mix, Stewart seemed dead and buried after three of the four omnium events.
A seventh place in the opening scratch race was followed by 12th in the tempo race to place him 10th overall, and while a strong fifth in the elimination race moved him into seventh, he still sat 28 points outside the medal placings, and needed a remarkable final points race to vault into the medals.
Campbell Stewart of New Zealand celebrates coming second in the men's omnium (Silver). Photo / Alex Broadway/SWpix.com
Calculations before the final suggested that even lapping the field, and taking the 20 bonus points on offer for doing so, wouldn't be enough for Stewart in the 100-lap race featuring point bonuses of five, three, two and one after every 10 laps. The added dollop of pessimistic context came in the form of the riders in front of him, who included the defending Olympic champion and the three podium finishers at the 2020 world championships.
Those calculations proved accurate when Stewart did indeed lap the field early in the race, but still found himself outside of medal contention, with Great Britain's Matthew Walls storming clear and Italy's Elia Vivani and France's Benjamin Thomas sitting comfortably in the other medal positions.
It continued that way until the final 10 laps, with Stewart seemingly set for a fifth-place finish, when the Kiwi produced a staggering show of strength to fire off the front again in a last-ditch attempt to claim another lap on the field, and the medal-sealing 20 points that came with it.
Thomas, now sitting rather uncomfortably in the suddenly under-fire bronze medal position, started to chase, and Stewart was left hanging, half a lap ahead, as the remaining laps ticked closer to zero.
However, he had two strong riders with him in Denmark's Niklas Larsen and Spain's Alberto Torres, and they were happy to help New Zealand's cause, taking pulls at the front as Thomas looked around for support.
It came from Viviani who surged clear in an attempt to defend his silver medal, but with one measly lap remaining, Stewart made the catch, collecting another 20 points to finish the points race with a stunning 51, and claim a phenomenal silver medal.
The defending world champion Thomas, relegated to fourth place, looked around in shock – and he had every right to be stunned - as Stewart's remarkable comeback was a truly sensational ride.
But it was even more sensational considering who pulled it off - someone who wasn't supposed to be racing.
