Olympic Games 2021

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Valente wins women's Omnium to take final cycling gold of Tokyo Olympics

Track cycling at the Tokyo Olympic Games concluded August 8 with Jennifer Valente of the United States earning the gold medal in the women’s Omnium, filled with crashes in the opening race. Japan's Yumi Kajihara took the silver medal and Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) claimed the bronze.

Nearly half the field came down in two crashes during the Scratch race. In the final Points race, both the reigning World Champion Kajihara and the gold medallist Valente came down, but both re-joined the race and held their medal positions.

Leading from start to finish, Valente recorded the first gold on the track for the US this Olympic Games, and it was the first track cycling gold since 2000 for Team USA.

Olympics: Jason Kenny wins gold in men’s Keirin by flying out of the field early

Great Britain's Jason Kenny won the men’s Keirin at the Tokyo Olympic Games, making it the third consecutive Olympics for a gold in the discipline. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) took silver. 

The bronze went to Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands), who had already taken medals in the Team Sprint and individual Sprint.

Olympics: Denmark win men's Madison

Michael Mørkøv and Lasse Norman Hansen won the gold medal in the men's Madison at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Danes had finished sixth the last time the Madison was contested in the Games for men, back in 2008. Denmark scored a total of 43 points in the 200-lap and 20 sprint race. 

Great Britain’s Matt Walls and Ethan Hayter were the early race leaders but had to attack late to stay in the medal hunt. They won the final sprint to take the silver medal, with France’s duo of Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin taking bronze. 

Olympics: Great Britain dominate from start to finish to win women's Madison gold

Team Great Britain made history Friday by winning the first-ever gold medal in the women's Madison at the Olympic Games. The pairing of Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald dominated the event from start to finish at the Izu Velodrome. It was the fifth gold in Kenny's Olympic career and Archibald's second.

Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth took the silver medal with the ROC pairing of Gulnaz Khatuntseva and Mariia Novoldskaia earned the bronze medal.

The Netherlands had been in contention for a medal, but  finished fourth after a crash with 70 laps to go. 

Olympics: Lavreysen beats Hoogland in all-Dutch men's Sprint final

Netherlands battled in the men's Sprint finals, Harrie Lavreysen winning the gold medal with teammate Jeffrey Hoogland taking silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Hoogland claimed the first race in the final before Lavreysen edged him to the line after a gripping joust in the second.

In the race for the bronze medal, Jack Carlin (Great Britain) defeated Denis Dmitriev (Russian Olympic Committee) 2-0.

Olympics: Braspennincx wins women's Keirin gold

Shanne Braspennincx of Netherlands won the gold medal in the women's Keirin at the Tokyo Olympic Games, having won both her quarter and semi-final heats.

Ellesse Andrews from New Zealand would take the silver and Canada’s Lauriane Genest who took the bronze. Canada and Ukraine each had two athletes in the finals with six riders.

In the competition among the six semifinal riders who missed out on the medal round, Germany’s Emma Hinze won the race to finish seventh overall.

Olympics: Matthew Walls wins gold in men's Omnium

Matthew Walls (Great Britain) won gold in the men’s Omnium at the Tokyo Olympic Games as Campbell Stewart (New Zealand) took the silver and 2016 Rio champion Elia Viviani (Italy) scored the bronze. 

In the four-race event, Walls began by winning the first event, the Scratch race. He then finished in a tie for second in the Tempo race, was second in the Elimination race, and took a decisive win in the Points race.

Olympics: Italy beat Denmark and break world record in men’s Team Pursuit final

Using a new world record, Italy won the gold medal in the men’s Team Pursuit final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The quartet of Francesco Lamon, Simone Consonni, Jonathan Milan and Filippo Ganna set a time of 3:42.032.

Denmark set a time of 3:42.198 to take the silver medal, which was inside the world record Italy set in Tuesday’s first round.

In a clash of Australia and New Zealand for the bronze, Australia came out on top for the final podium spot after New Zealand lost a rider in a crash and the other three riders split.

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Men's Team Pursuit Final
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Italy 0:03:42
Row 1 - Cell 0 Simone Consonni
Row 2 - Cell 0 Filippo Ganna
XFrancesco Lamon
Row 4 - Cell 0 Jonathan Milan
2Denmark 0:03:42
Row 6 - Cell 0 Lasse Norman Hansen
Row 7 - Cell 0 Niklas Larsen
Row 8 - Cell 0 Frederik Madsen
XRasmus Pedersen
3Australia
Row 11 - Cell 0 Kelland o'Brien
Row 12 - Cell 0 Sam Welsford
XLeigh Howard
Row 14 - Cell 0 Lucas Plapp
RAlexander Porter

Olympics: Dutch beat Great Britain to win men's Team Sprint gold

With a new Olympic record of 41.369, the Netherlands captured the gold medal in the men’s Team Sprint at the Tokyo Olympics Games, the Dutch team led by Jeffrey Hoogland, Roy van den Berg and Harrie Lavreysen.

Taking the silver medal was Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens,  with a time of 44.589. The French trio of Florian Grengbo, Rayan Helal and Sebastien Vigier took bronze over Australia.

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Men's Team Sprint Final
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Netherlands 0:00:42
Row 1 - Cell 0 Roy van den Berg
Row 2 - Cell 0 Harrie Lavreysen
Row 3 - Cell 0 Matthijs Buchli
2Great Britain 0:00:42
Row 5 - Cell 0 Ryan Owens
Row 6 - Cell 0 Jack Carlin
Row 7 - Cell 0 Jason Kenny
3Australia 0:00:42
Row 9 - Cell 0 Matthew Richardson
Row 10 - Cell 0 Nathan Hart
Row 11 - Cell 0 Matthew Glaetzer
4France 0:00:43
Row 13 - Cell 0 Florian Grengbo
Row 14 - Cell 0 Sebastien Vigier
Row 15 - Cell 0 Rayan Helal

Olympics: Germany beat Great Britain to win gold in women's team pursuit

Germany set a new world record to win the women’s Team Pursuit gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the foursome of Mieke Kroeger, Franziska Brausse, Lisa Brennauer and Lisa Klein recording a time of 4:04.249. The team had set world bests in each of their two previous runs on the Izu Velodrome. 

Great Britain took the silver, in 4:10.607 and the bronze went to the United States, at 4:08.040.

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Women's Team Pursuit Final
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Germany 0:04:04
Row 1 - Cell 0 Franziska Brausse
Row 2 - Cell 0 Lisa Brennauer
Row 3 - Cell 0 Lisa Klein
XMieke Kroeger
2Great Britain 0:04:11
Row 6 - Cell 0 Katie Archibald
Row 7 - Cell 0 Laura Kenny
XNeah Evans
Row 9 - Cell 0 Josie Knight
Row 10 - Cell 0 Elinor Barker
3United States of America 0:04:08
XMegan Jastrab
Row 13 - Cell 0 Jennifer Valente
Row 14 - Cell 0 Chloe Dygert
Row 15 - Cell 0 Emma White
RLily Williams
4Canada 0:04:11
XAllison Beveridge
Row 19 - Cell 0 Ariane Bonhomme
Row 20 - Cell 0 Annie Foreman-Mackey
Row 21 - Cell 0 Georgia Simmerling
RJasmin Duehring

Olympics: China win women's team sprint

The Chinese pair of Shanju Bao and Tianshi Zhong won the gold medal in the women's Team Sprint, in a time of 32.102. This followed their world-record time of 31.804 in qualifying. 

Germany took silver with the effort of Emma Hinze and Sophie Friedrich a mere 0.085 slower in a time of 31.980. 

The Russian Olympic Committee team (ROC) won the bronze medal beating the Netherlands in the ride-off.

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Women's Team Sprint Final
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1People's Republic of China 0:00:32
Row 1 - Cell 0 Shanju Bao
Row 2 - Cell 0 Tianshi Zhong
2Germany 0:00:32
Row 4 - Cell 0 Lea Sophie Friedrich
Row 5 - Cell 0 Emma Hinze
3Russian Olympic 0:00:32
Row 7 - Cell 0 Daria Shmeleva
Row 8 - Cell 0 Anastasiia Voinova
4Netherlands 0:00:33
Row 10 - Cell 0 Shanne Braspennincx
Row 11 - Cell 0 Laurine van Riessen

Olympics: Primoz Roglic wins gold for Slovenia in men's time trial

Tokyo Olympics: Men's Individual Time Trial - As it happened

Slovenian Primož Roglič was in full charge of the 44.2km men's individual time trial at the Tokyo Olympic Games to win the gold medal on Wednesday. His time of 55:04 was more than a full minute faster than any of his 38 competitors.

His Jumbo-Visma teammate, Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) would come the closest, 1:01 back, for the silver medal, repeating his runner-up performance from the 2016 Rio Games. Rohan Dennis (Australia) took the bronze, an additional two seconds off the winning pace. 

Swiss national champion Stefan Küng began the two-lap course two positions behind Dennis and crossed the line just one second slower to finish fourth. The race favourite and final rider on the course, World Champion Filippo Ganna (Italy), recorded the fastest time at the first check, but faded on the undulating course to cross the line at the Fuji International Speedway in fifth place. 

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Tokyo Olympics Men's Individual Time Trial - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Primož Roglič (Slovenia) 0:55:04
2Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) 0:01:01
3Rohan Dennis (Australia) 0:01:03
4Stefan Küng (Switzerland) 0:01:04
5Filippo Ganna (Italy) 0:01:05
6Wout van Aert (Belgium) 0:01:40
7Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) 0:01:48
8Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) 0:02:14
9Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) 0:02:17
10Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) 0:02:20

Olympics: Annemiek Van Vleuten races to gold in women's time trial

Tokyo Olympics: Women's Individual Time Trial - As it happened

Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) won her first-ever Olympic gold medal on Wednesday with commanding performance in the women's individual time trial at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Across the undulating 22.1km course, Van Vleuten set the fastest times at every checkpoint and crossed the finish line at the Fuji International Speedway in 30:13.

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) finished 56 seconds back for the silver, while the Dutch team secured a second spot on the podium with Anna van der Breggen posting a time five seconds slower for the bronze. 

The Swiss time trial national champion moved from fifth at the first check to second at the line, just ahead of World Champion Van der Breggen. Grace Brown of Australia placing fourth, and American Amber Neben finishing fifth.

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Tokyo Olympics Women's Individual Time Trial - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) 0:30:13
2Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) 0:00:56
3Anna Van der Breggen (Netherlands) 0:01:01
4Grace Brown (Australia) 0:01:08
5Amber Leone Neben (United States Of America) 0:01:12
6Lisa Brennauer (Germany) 0:01:57
7Chloe Dygert (United States Of America) 0:02:16
8Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa) 0:02:24
9Juliette Labous (France) 0:02:28
10Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) 0:02:47

Olympics: Jolanda Neff storms to women's mountain bike gold in Tokyo

Switzerland took all three medals in the women's cross-country mountain bike race on Tuesday, the gold going to Jolanda Neff, who had broken her hand at the final round of the World Cup just six weeks ago.

Teammates Sina Frei and Linda Indergand rounded out the medal heist, Frei taking silver and Indergand with bronze, a little over a minute back. 

Heavy rains created muddy conditions which impacted many of the race favourites, including a sixth-place finish for France's Loana Lecomte, who is unbeaten this season in World Cup events. Defending Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) encountered a flat tyre to finish 14th, while World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) finished10th. 

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Tokyo Olympics Women's Cross-Country Mountain Bike - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) 1:15:46
2Sina Frei (Switzerland) 0:01:11
3Linda Indergand (Switzerland) 0:01:19
4Kata Blanka Vas (Hungary) 0:02:09
5Anne Terpstra (Netherlands) 0:02:35
6Loana Lecomte (France) 0:02:57
7Evie Richards (Great Britain) 0:03:23
8Yana Belomoina (Ukraine) 0:03:54
9Haley Batten (United States Of America) 0:04:27
10Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France) 0:04:32

Olympics: Tom Pidcock takes sensational men's mountain bike gold for Great Britain

Tom Pidcock earned the first gold medal for Great Britain in mountain biking with his victory in the men’s cross-country race at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Mathias Flueckiger (Switzerland) claimed the silver followed by David Valero Serrano (Spain) taking the bronze. 

On the first of seven laps of the 4.1-kilometre circuit the race favourites were off the front that included Pidcock, Flueckiger, Nino Schurter (Switzerland) and Mathieu van der Poel (Belgium). Pidcock would avoid a crash by Van der Poel before reaching the second lap, and the Belgian withdrew later from the race. 

The British rider picked his lines on the Izu MTB course to the victory. Former champion, Schurter, was forced to settle for fourth at the finish line.

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Tokyo Olympics Men's Cross-Country Mountain Bike - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) 1:25:14
2Mathias Flueckinger (Switzerland) 0:00:20
3David Valero Serrano (Spain) 0:00:34
4Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 0:00:42
5Victor Koretzky (France) 0:00:46
6Anton Cooper (New Zealand)
7Vlad Dascalu (Romania) 0:00:49
8Alan Hatherly (South Africa) 0:01:19
9Jordan Sarrou (France) 0:01:36
10Milan Vader (Netherlands) 0:02:07

Olympics: Shock gold for Anna Kiesenhofer in women's road race

Tokyo Olympics: Women's Road Race - As it happened

Anna Kiesenhofer (Austria) pulled off one of the biggest ever shocks in women's elite road racing to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

After questionable tactics from the major nations during the race and a reported lack of communication on the road, Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands), who said she was unaware of that Kiesenhofer was still up the road, attacked out of the field with 2km to go and crossed the line thinking she had won the Olympic title only to learn later that she had taken silver. 

Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) finished with the bronze medal and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) was fourth, while Marianne Vos (Netherlands) took the small group sprint for fifth. Lisa Brennauer (Germany) was sixth, Coryn Rivera (USA) seventh, Marta Cavali (Italy) eighth, Olga Zabelinskaya (Uzbekistan) ninth, and Uttrup Ludwig 10th.

The elite women's 137km road race started from Musashinonomori Park and included two mid-race climbs over Donushi Road and Kagosaka Pass, for 2,692 metres of elevation gain, before a punchy final at the Fuji International Speedway.

Kiesenhofer, who lined up with no teammates, was part of an early-race move with Carla Oberholzer (South Africa), Vera Looser (Namibia), Omer Shapira (Israel), and Anna Plichta (Poland) that gained more than 10 minutes on the main field. Kiesenhofer was strong enough  to hold on for a solo victory at the Fuji International Speedway.

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Tokyo Olympics Women's Road Race - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Anna Kiesenhofer (Austria) 3:52:45
2Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) 0:01:15
3Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) 0:01:29
4Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) 0:01:39
5Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 0:01:46
6Lisa Brennauer (Germany)
7Coryn Rivera (USA)
8Marta Cavalli (Italy)
9Olga Zabelinskaya (Uzbekistan)
10Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark)

Olympics: Richard Carapaz claims men's road race title

Tokyo Olympics: Men's Road Race - As it happened

Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) won the gold medal in the elite men's road race at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Saturday, July 24. Carapaz crossed the line with a solo victory over one minute ahead of a chase group sprint where Wout van Aert (Belgium) captured the silver medal and Tadej Pogačar (Slovienia) the bronze.

The men’s 234km road race was contested by 134 riders with five major climbs on the route between Musashinonomori Park and the Fuji International Speedway. The dominant nations of France, Italy, Belgium, Colombia, Spain and the Netherlands each lined up with five riders, while Carapaz lined up with only one teammate, Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado.

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Tokyo Olympics Men's Road Race - Top 10
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) 6:05:26
2Wout van Aert (Belgium) 0:01:07
3Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)
4Bauke Mollema (Netherlands)
5Michael Woods (Canada)
6Brandon McNulty (USA)
7David Gaudu (France)
8Rigoberto Uran (Colombia)
9Adam Yates (Great Britain)
10Max Schachmann (Germany) 0:01:21

Tokyo Olympic Games

The 2020 Olympic Games, due to start on July 24 in Tokyo, were forced to be postponed to 2021 by a global pandemic of a new type of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes in some people severe pneumonia that has resulted in thousands of deaths worldwide.

Even as Japan fought against the Olympics going forward amid low vaccination rates and increasing infections, the world's athletes, supporters and media will begin to arrive in the country for the XXXII Olympiad.

The men's road race takes place on Saturday, July 24 as one of the first events, with superstars like Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert among the favourites.

The women's road race is next on July 25, where Anna van der Breggen will try to repeat her gold medal performance with the support of a strong Dutch team.

Mountain bike cross country is next with the men on July 26, where Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock will try to take the title from the full time riders. The women's field compete on July 27 on the Izu course.

The time trials will be held on the Fuji International Speedway on July 28, with Tom Dumoulin returning from a few months' time-out to try to upgrade his silver in Rio to gold. The women, racing the same day, will see a new champion in the absence of three-time winner Kristin Armstrong. Her compatriot Chloe Dygert is a favourite against the Dutch riders Van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten.

Track cycling closes out the cycling events at the Games, with six events for men and women: Team Pursuit, Team Sprint, Individual Sprint, Keirin, Omnium, and Madison.

You can find out how to watch all cycling events of the Tokyo Olympics, as well as all other events with our handy guide using ExpressVPN.

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2021 Olympic Games Cycling schedule

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DateEvent (Finals)Start (CEST)Est. Finish (CEST)
July 24, 2021Men's Road Race4:00AM11:15AM
July 25, 2021Women's Road Race6:00AM10:35AM
July 26, 2021Men's MTB XC8:00AM10:00AM
July 27, 2021Women's MTB XC8:00AM10:00AM
July 28, 2021Men & Women's ITT4:30AM10:40AM
July 30, 2021Men's & Women's BMC race3:00AM5:20AM
August 1, 2021Men's & Women's BMX freestyle3:10AM5:45AM
August 2, 2021Track Day 1 (Team Sprint W)8:30AM11:30AM
August 3, 2021Track Day 2 (Team Sprint M, Team Pursuit W)8:30AM11:30AM
August 4, 2021Track Day 3 (Team Pursuit M)8:30AM12:00PM
August 5, 2021Track Day 4 (Keirin W, Omnium M)8:30AM11:50AM
August 6, 2021Track Day 5 (Madison W, Sprint M)8:30AM12:15PM
August 7, 2021Track Day 6 (Madison M)8:30AM11:25AM
August 8, 2021Track Day 7 (Sprint W, Omnium W, Keirin M)3:00AM6:15AM

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