Flying Dutchman Lavreysen wins gold in men’s keirin

SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France : Flying Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen confirmed his status as the king of men’s sprinting as he won the Olympic keirin on Sunday to complete a remarkable hat-trick at the National Velodrome.
Lavreysen flew around the final corner to beat Australia’s Matthew Richardson, who took the silver.
The 27-year-old powerhouse also won the team sprint and sprint, repeating his feat from Tokyo where he could only manage a bronze in the keirin.
Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer was third.
The race finale was somewhat overshadowed by a high-speed crash just before it involving Malaysia’s Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Japan’s Shinji Nakano and Britain’s Jack Carlin who were all sent tumbling across the track.
Sahrom slid over the line but was relegated for causing the accident. All three riders eventually managed to walk away after treatment.
Lavreysen has been in a league of his own all week although he was beaten into second place by Richardson in the semi-finals of the keirin.
Come the final it was business as usual for the former BMX rider they call The Beast, however, as he was roared home by an orange army of Dutch fans in the stands.
He has emulated British sprint greats Chris Hoy (2008) and Jason Kenny (2016) in winning all three sprint golds on offer at a single Olympics and now has five in total.