PARIS, France – Defending champion Jennifer Valente added to her medal count in Paris after winning gold in the women’s team pursuit earlier in the week.
Valente won the scratch and elimination race to give her a comfortable lead entering the points race. Valente made her winning move halfway through the points race to lap the field and take her point total to 144, enough to cement her gold medal win.
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In the first of four races, the scratch race, Valente repeated her Tokyo performance and won the race in a sprint down the stretch. She earned the maximum 40 points allotted and had a good start to her day. Canada Maggie Coles-Lyster finished behind her and Australia’s Georgia Baker rounded out the top 3.
In the tempo race, riders attempt to win the lap to earn a point. Valente and Baker played a game of cat-and-mouse at the front of the race for much of the 40 laps. Valente won the 8th sprint lap for a point. Baker responded and won the next point and so forth. In the end, Ireland’s Lara Gillespie lapped the field for an extra 20 points, so she earned the 40 points in the race, but Valente and Baker finished second and fourth in the race. With the win, Valente extended her lead in the overall omnium with 78 points, Baker was in second with eight fewer points.
In the elimination race, Lotte Kopecky was near the front for most of the race after surprising lower finishes in scratch and tempo races. The Belgian rider was eliminated fourth after a strong push from Baker to avoid the elimination. Valente continued her strong showing making it to the final lap with Baker. The American easily outsprinted Baker down the stretch to win the race and claimed the maximum 40 points. Valente had 10-point lead on Baker after three races with a 118 points total. Coles-Lyster was 12 points behind Baker.
Points race
It usually all comes down to the points race, a long 80 laps with a sprint lap every 10th lap. Accurately named the points race because riders can collect the highest number of points on the day in the race, which means basically anyone in the top 10 could still find the podium.
Valente and Baker just needed to keep an eye on each other to ensure they’d leave with a medal of some color. Valente got the start she wanted, winning the first sprint lap.
France’s Valentine Fortin riled up the crowd when she lapped the field to earn 20 points and take the lead in the race, but she’d be a non-factor.
With under 40 laps to go, a bunch of riders lapped the field including Kopecky to keep her medal hopes alive. Valente also lapped the field, a huge move to cement her lead in the overall omnium race.
Polish rider Daria Pikulik was consistent in the points race, picking up points in the middle sprint laps, winning two of them. She advanced to the bronze medal position with 104 points after sprint five. Baker’s silver medal lead was down to four points.
After the sixth sprint, Baker still hadn’t picked up a point in the race and had dropped out of the medals after New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston completed a lap to vault her into the bronze position.
On the penultimate sprint, Kopecky attacked but fell short of the sprint points, but did pick up 20 points for lapping the field. The Belgian now sat in fourth setting up and exciting final sprint lap for silver and bronze. Right after, Pikulik would also lap to cement her silver position with 129 points.
Entering the final lap, Valente had the lead with 144 points, Pikulik in second with 129 and Wollaston was third with 119. The bell lap rang sending the sprinters forward, Valente’s hard work had already been done. She was unbeatable all day and never looked under duress, she won the race by 13 points. Pikulik and Wollaston surprised for silver and bronze with 131 and 125 points, respectively. Kopecky finished fourth while Baker ran out of steam and finished fifth.
See the full results here.