Japanese sprinter Ota Kaiya was in tears at the Paris Olympics after the men’s track cycling individual sprint competition on Thursday, having thought he'd staged a huge upset to defeat Great Britain's Jack Carlin only to be relegated and then defeated in the deciding round.
The two sprinters switched lines, banged helmets and clashed elbows during their sprints, with race officials ultimately deciding that Carlin went through the semifinal where he will face defending Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands).
Kaiya won the first sprint with a turn of speed and then also beat Carlin in the second sprint. He celebrated after a high-speed body clash but officials overturned the result and awarded the win to Carlin, ruling that Kaiya moved down towards the inside of the track when Carlin was already there.
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The two again went shoulder-to-shoulder during the final 250 metres of the third and deciding sprint. Carlin appeared to move briefly out of the sprinter's lane but beat Kaiya by 0.014 of a second and was ruled the winner.
Both riders were warned in the final race, Carlin for "irregular movement to prevent the opponent from passing" and Kaiya for dangerous riding, but the officials let the third result stand in favour of Carlin.
Team Japan asked for a review but the officials refused to change their result, leaving Kaiya in tears.
"I thought I could get to the medal rounds, but through my own naivety I didn't make it, which is really frustrating," Kaiya said.
"The judges look at the details and decide, so I don't really know, but I think I was relegated for getting too close to my opponent."
Japan sprint coach Jason Niblett admitted that Kaiya had been drawn into a nervous tactical battle by Carlin, leaving him at the mercy of the judges and any punishment for aggressive riding.
"Sometimes the decision goes our way, sometimes it doesn't,” the Australian coach admitted.
"Ideally, I'm not in the position to have to fight with judges but the ruling is the ruling.”
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