Australia’s Matthew Richardson was forced to settle for silver after he was taken down by the powerful defending champion, Dutchman, Harrie Lavreysen, in a fascinating duel for the track cycling sprint gold medal.
In a best-of-three cat-and-mouse sprint between the 25-year-old Aussie – who broke the world record while qualifying but lost it minutes later to Lavreysen – and the Dutchman, Richardson put up a fight but it wasn’t enough to secure the gold medal.
Richardson was unable to cross the finish line first in either of their two battles, losing from behind in the first battle and from the front in the second. A deciding third race was not required.
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“I’m definitely going to hold my head high with silver,” he told Nine after the race.
“The level of competition was just out of this world. To fight all the way to the end, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Matthew Richardson won silver after going down to reigning gold medallist Harrie Lavreysen. Getty
The first race saw 27-year-old Lavreysen get the better of his rival by 0.024, with the Tokyo gold medallist too strong at the front as Richardson sat in his slipstream and made a vain late attempt to go past on the outside.
Round two saw Richardson fall to Lavreysen by 0.047, securing a second Olympic sprint gold medal after he burned past on the final turn.
“Harrie and I have had close battles for many years now. I have got a couple. He’s got more than me, but I know that it’s within my power to win the race,” he said.
“I just have to execute absolutely to the T, and he probably has to make a couple of mistakes for me to get the win.
“So when he doesn’t do that, he makes it very hard. But I was really happy with how I rode the races. I put my best foot forward and came up short.”
Before the final in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velondrome on Saturday morning AEST, only three men in the history of the event had successfully defended their title.
Lavreysen was aiming to become the fourth – and the Dutchman succeeded in his mission.
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Richardson on the podium. Getty
Richardson had a dream run at Paris 2024 in the lead up to the final, not losing a single showdown and notably progressing through to the final after beating Lavreysen’s countryman Jeffrey Hoogland in straight sets in a tense semi-final.
Days earlier, Richardson became the first man to officially go under 9.1 seconds and claim the Australian, Olympic and world record.
Prior to Richardson’s qualifying ride, Israel’s Mikhail Yakolev had set the Olympic record and Richardson was 0.009 behind him on the first split.
But then the 25-year-old flew home to claim all the records, finishing his ride in 9.091 seconds.
Just minutes later, Lavreysen pipped Richardson’s time to take the world and Olympic record off him, finishing ahead of Richardson by 0.003 seconds with a time of 9.088.
Yakovlev finished third while Australian Leigh Hoffman was fourth with a time of 9.242.
Richardson won bronze in the men’s team sprint earlier in the week, and his focus now turns to the Keirin, which begins Saturday night (AEST).
“There can’t be a lot more to come when you are winning bronze and silver medals,” he said.
“There’s only one more thing to achieve … so there’s one target on my mind and that’s the gold medal in the Keirin.”
Source link : https://www.nine.com.au/sport/olympics/paris-2024-velodrome-mens-sprint-final-results-matthew-richardson-20240810-p5k189.html
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Publish date : 2024-08-09 22:07:15
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