Cyclist
Every Olympic track cycling event explained
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are well and truly underway. After the excitement of the road cycling, BMX and mountain biking, track cycling will dominate the cycling schedule for the next week.
Track cycling at the Olympics offers a 12-event long programme that will take place from 5th August until 11th August 2024 at the Vélodrome National. In total, 34 countries have qualified to win track gold at Paris 2024. This year, there will be an individual sprint, keirin and omnium events. For teams, there is the team pursuit, team sprint and madison races.
The velodrome events feature some unique rules and odd dynamics. In order to brush up on your armchair knowledge of the track events, Cyclist dives into the dusty cycling rule book to explain how all 12 events work.
Keirin
Originally from Japan, the keirin is one of track cycling’s purest events. Up to six riders take part in the keirin race, with races spread out over a tournament tree qualifier round.
To begin, a motorbike pacer – known as a derny – will tow the group of six riders for three laps (750m). The derny will start pacing at 30kmh before slowly increasing the speed up to 50kmh in the introductory laps. During this time, the riders will follow the derny in a line until the driver turns off the track with three laps (750m) to go. Riders are randomly allocated their position behind the derny before the race.
Once the derny pulls off the track, the racing can begin. Riders will then race all-out for the remainder of the race. The standings are dictated by the first rider across the line after six laps in total – including the time spent behind the derny.
Key keirin information
- Reigning Olympic champion: Jason Kenny (Great Britain), Shanne Braspennincx (Netherlands)
- Reigning world champion: Kevin Quintero (Colombia), Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Sunday 11th August
- One line summary: ‘The one with the motorbike’
Sprint
The sprint has taken place at the Olympics since 1904, making it one of the oldest events at the Olympic Games.
In order to filter through the 32 competitors in the individual sprint event, a 200m timed sprint takes place to rank the riders. From here, the riders will be seeded into head-to-head matches depending on where they finished in this qualifying time-trial – also known as a flying lap.
At Paris 2024, the matches will begin in the 1/32 finals. For this, riders begin side-by-side from a standing-start. The total length of the race is three laps (750m), with the final 200m timed for ranking purposes. The first rider across the finishing line of each match will progress into the next round, taking the riders all the way to the final in a tournament tree format.
The race is very tactical. Sprinters follow a cat-and-mouse style where they look at each other, often taking the speed down to single figures. It is usually more desirable to be in second-place coming into the final lap due to aerodynamic gains. However, there are strict rules enforced surrounding sprinting lines. Once a rider begins their sprint, they must remain under certain lines marked on the track. It is also illegal to undertake in the sprint.
Key sprint information
- Reigning Olympic champion: Harrie Levreysen (Netherlands), Kelsey Mitchell (Canada)
- Reigning world champion: Harrie Levreysen (Netherlands), Emma Finucane (Great Britain)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Friday 9th August (men), Thursday 8th August (women)
- One line summary: ‘The cat and mouse one’
Omnium
The omnium is track cyling’s all-round event. Think of it as cycling’s decathlon.
The omnium takes place over two days and spans four events: a scratch race, tempo race, elimination and points race. At Paris 2024, 15 riders will compete in the omnium events. In order to climb up the standings, riders will need to earn points from their finishing position in each race (bar the points race, which has a different points scoring system). These points are dictated by finishing position instead of time like the Tour de France’s general classification and Athletics’ decathlon.
Scratch opens proceedings. This is a a simple 10km race. It’s all about reaching the finishing line first, there are no timings or nuances to the rules. Afterwards, a tempo race will be tackled at the end of the first day. In this event, riders earn points if they lead the race at the tempo marker every five laps. The rider with the most amount of points wins the round.
To start day two, the riders return to the track for the elimination race. This round will see athletes fight for their place in the peloton as the last rider will face elimination at the end of every two laps. The rider in last place over the finishing line will then be asked to leave the track. This process will continue until one rider is left.
The omnium rounds out with the points race. This entails a 40km long race where points are contested through sprints every ten laps (2.5km). These points are accumulated throughout the race at each of these sprints, offering 5, 3, 2 and 1 points for the first five riders across the intermediate sprints. The points race sees some of track cycling’s most road-like tactics. There are breakaways, relays and team dynamics that play into this event. To add to the intrigue, the points won in the points race are directly added to the final rankings.
Key omnium information
- Reigning Olympic champion: Matt Walls (Great Britain), Jennifer Valente (USA)
- Reigning world champion: Iúri Leitão (Portugal), Jennifer Valente (USA)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Wednesday 7th August -Thursday 8th August (men), Saturday 10th-Sunday 11th August (women)
- One line summary: ‘The cycling decathlon’
Team sprint
The team sprint is the first of the team events at the velodrome. It’s a relentless three lap (750m) dash to the line that requires riders to stay with their team-mates and lead them out to the finishing line.
Men and women both start with three riders. Together they ride in a three-man line with one rider peeling off at the end of each lap. For the final lap, one rider is left to sprint to the line. This event can be timed or raced head-to-head with another team. For this, the competing teams start from opposite sides of the track.
The women’s team sprint has already concluded. Great Britain took the gold medal ahead of New Zealand and Germany. The men’s team sprint has also already had its qualifying round at the Vélodrome National in Paris.
Key team sprint information
- Reigning Olympic champion: The Netherlands (men), Germany (women)
- Reigning world champion: The Netherlands (men), China (women)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Tuesday 6th August (men), Monday 5th August (women)
- One line summary: ‘The sprint lead-out’
Team pursuit
The team pursuit is the most-prized team event. The world record for this 4km-long time trial is tightly contested at the moment, and should be closely watched at Paris 2024.
The event is like a mini team time-trial. Four riders roll around the velodrome in a line, with riders taking turns on the front. Pursuit changes often see riders swinging up the steep banking of the track before diving down back into the slipstream of their teammates.
Each team of four riders must pass through a qualification round before being matched up with an opposing team in the knock-out rounds. Like in team sprint, these teams begin from opposite sides of the velodrome. The clock stops when the third rider from a team crosses the finishing line.
Recently, there has been a fierce rivalry between Italy and Denmark in the men’s event. For the women, Great Britain have high hopes of scoring another Olympic title after winning in Tokyo three years ago.
Key team pursuit information
- Reigning Olympic champion: Italy (men), Great Britain (women)
- Reigning world champion: Denmark (men), Great Britain (women)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Wednesday 7th August (men and women)
- One line summary: ‘The track team time-trial’
Madison
The madison is by far and away the trickiest track cycling event to wrap your head around. Interestingly though, the name of the event stems from Madison Square Garden in New York where the race first originated. It is also the newest event to be added to the Olympic track programme.
Madison is cycling’s two-man relay event. Men tackle a course of 50km, and women ride 30km. It usually lasts around one hour.
Teams start with two riders. Only one rider is allowed to ‘race’ at any given time. The other rider will often be seen waiting around the upper section of the track while their teammate races. To pass the metaphorical baton, teammates will perform an arm sling to help propel the other. From then, the role of the racing rider changes. These changes can happen at any time during the race. The racing rider is the only competitor from a team who can score points. Similarly, only laps ridden by the racing rider will count towards the team’s race.
A madison race is decided by points. Like in the points race, there are sprints every ten laps. There, points are given to the first four teams across the line. Points can also be scored for gaining a lap on your competitors.
Key madison information
- Reigning Olympic champion: Denmark (men), Great Britain (women)
- Reigning world champion: The Netherlands (men), Great Britain (women)
- Gold medal race in Paris 2024: Saturday 10th August (men), Friday 9th August (women)
- One line summary: ‘The one with the hand slings’
The post Every Olympic track cycling event explained appeared first on Cyclist.