PARIS, France – Defending champion Jennifer Valente She was able to further expand her medal tally in Paris by winning the gold medal in the women’s team pursuit earlier in the week.
Valente won the scratch and elimination races to gain a comfortable lead in the points race. Valente made the decisive move midway through the points race, lapping the field and increasing her total points to 144, enough to win her gold medal.
In the first of four races, the Scratch Race, Valente repeated her performance from Tokyo, winning the race in a sprint down the finishing straight. She earned the maximum 40 points allotted and had a good start to the day. Behind her, Canadian Maggie Coles-Lyster finished and Australian Georgia Baker completed the top three.
In the tempo race, riders try to win the lap to score a point. Valente and Baker played cat and mouse at the front for much of the 40 laps of the race. Valente won the 8th sprint lap and scored a point. Baker responded and scored the next point, and so on. In the end, Ireland’s Lara Gillespie lapped the field and scored an extra 20 points, giving her the 40 points in the race, but Valente and Baker finished second and fourth. With the win, Valente extended her lead in the overall omnium to 78 points, with Baker in second place, eight points less.
In the elimination race, Lotte Kopecky was in front most of the time after surprisingly poor placings in scratch and speed races. The Belgian rider was eliminated in fourth place after Baker attacked her strongly to avoid elimination. Valente continued to put in a strong performance and made it to the final lap with Baker. The American easily overtook Baker on the home straight to win the race and take the maximum 40 points. Valente had a 10-point lead over Baker after three races with a total of 118 points. Coles-Lyster was 12 points behind Baker.
Points race
Normally it all comes down to the Points Race, a long 80-lap race with a sprint lap every 10 laps. The Points Race is aptly named as it allows drivers to collect the highest number of points on race day, meaning that basically anyone in the top 10 can still finish on the podium.
Valente and Baker just had to look out for each other to make sure they went home with a medal or something. Valente got the start she wanted and won the first sprint lap.
Frenchwoman Valentine Fortin enraged the crowd as she lapped the field, scored 20 points and took the race lead, but she played no role.
With less than 40 laps left, several riders, including Kopecky, lapped the field, keeping their medal hopes alive. Valente also lapped the field, a huge step that cemented her lead in the overall Omnium race.
Polish rider Daria Pikulik was consistent in the points race, picking up points in the middle sprint rounds and winning two of them. After the fifth sprint, she moved into the bronze medal position with 104 points. Baker’s lead over the silver medal had shrunk to four points.
After the sixth sprint, Baker had still not scored a point in the race and was eliminated from the medal race after New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston completed a lap that secured her bronze.
In the penultimate sprint, Kopecky attacked but failed to reach the sprint points, but earned 20 points for lapping the field. The Belgian was now in fourth place and set up a thrilling final sprint round for silver and bronze. Immediately afterwards, Pikulik also rode a lap and secured her silver place with 129 points.
As the final lap began, Valente was in the lead with 144 points, Pikulik was in second place with 129 points and Wollaston was in third place with 119 points. As the final lap rang, the sprinters moved forward, Valente’s hard work already done. She was unbeatable all day and never looked under pressure, winning the race by 13 points. Pikulik and Wollaston surprised with silver and bronze with 131 and 125 points respectively. Kopecky finished fourth, while Baker ran out of steam and finished fifth.
The full results can be found here.
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