Lea Friedrich of Germany set a new world record for track cycling women’s sprint in qualification at the Paris Olympics on Friday. Friedrich covered the 200-metre qualifying distance in 10.029 seconds, beating the previous best of 10.117 seconds set by Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand just five minutes earlier.
World champion Emma Finucane of Britain also rode faster than Andrews, covering the distance in 10.067 seconds to establish the second-fastest qualifying time. China’s Yuan Liying was unable to start qualification after her heavy fall in Thursday’s Keirin quarterfinal race, but her teammate Bao Shanju qualified for the first round of head-to-head races in 10.744 seconds.
Meanwhile, world champion Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands will compete against compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland, Matthew Richardson of Australia and Jack Carlin of Britain for the medal in the men’s sprint after some tense quarterfinals at the Olympic Velodrome on Thursday evening.
Lavreysen again showed why he is the favourite, and the rider, who set a new world record on Wednesday, rode into the semifinals with a 2-0 win over Mateusz Rudyk of Poland and looked as if he could go faster.
Richardson, who has a bronze at Paris 2024 from the men’s team sprint, also looked as if he had more in the tank, as he won his quarterfinal heat 2-0 against Yuta Obara of Japan. Hoogland lost his opening race against British rider Hamish Turnbull, but the Dutchman then took the quarterfinal to a third race for a 2-1 victory.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Jack Carlin had a lifeline after losing his first heat against Japan’s Kaiya Ota.