Jack Carlin won the bronze medal for Great Britain in an eventful individual sprint, edging out Dutchman Jeffrey Hoogland in a crucial race that had to be restarted after the two collided.
Carlin had already received a warning after his tricky quarter-final match against Kaiya Ota on Thursday and raised his hand apologetically after he went off the track and drove into Hoogland.
The race stewards decided that no penalty was necessary and the race was restarted. Carlin was able to fend off Hoogland on the straight to secure his second medal of the week after the silver medal in the team sprint.
Previously, Elinor Barker and Neah Evans won Olympic silver for Team GB in the women’s Madison.
Thanks to a strong final offensive by Barker, Great Britain won the last of the twelve sprints of the 120-lap race and overtook the Netherlands, while Italians Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini celebrated gold.
Italy finished with 37 points, Great Britain with 31 and the Netherlands with 28.
The British pair were on the attack from the start, winning the first sprint and remaining in the medal positions for the rest of the race.
They scored the most points of all the teams just through the sprints, but Italy and the Netherlands were each able to gain a lap lead over the field and thus collect 20 points.
Dame Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald became the first female Olympic champions at the Tokyo Games when the madison made its debut on the women’s programme. Barker and Evans are the reigning world champions after their victory in Glasgow last summer.
Evans said: “It’s an Olympic silver medal. It’s fantastic.”
“But as world champions we had really high expectations, we wanted to win and we felt we were in a really good position. Then there was an attack that we weren’t 100 percent prepared for and when we reacted, there was a different race dynamic.
“We gave it our all and I think we’ll be so proud of our ride afterwards. But at the same time, when you come for gold, you think: ugh, not quite. But at least: silver.”
