Bronze for Genest in women’s keirin race
Sprint cyclist Lauriane Genest of Lévis, Que., won a bronze medal in the keirin. Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 23-year-old, who claimed a silver in this event at the 2019 world championships in New Zealand, finished 0.148 seconds behind gold medallist Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands, and 0.087 behind silver medallist Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand.
The kierin is an indoor, short sprint event, in which typically six riders start from a standstill, ordered up by qualifying time behind an electric motorbike on a velodrome’s steeply banked oval. Then, after three laps of quickly increasing speed, the pace motorbike exits and riders frenetically race at top speed for just six laps, or 200 metres.
Braspennincx won at the Izu Velodrome in 10.622 seconds, at an average speed of 67.784 km/h.
“I don’t know. I have no words!” Genest said after the race, when asked to describe her feelings upon becoming an Olympic medallist.
Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell also raced in the keirin final, and placed sixth.
“It was amazing, just the fact we were in the final six together,” Genest said. “It probably was the best feeling of the day, honestly, just to be together in the final.”
Earlier Thursday, the Montreal-born Genest was the last rider from each of her qualifying heats to advance — placing fourth in her quarter-final, then third in her semifinal behind Braspennincx and her good friend and teammate, Mitchell.
It’s not easy to come from behind in this event, but Genest attacked at the right times and did so, in each of the last two races.
“I really came here today not having the podium in mind,” Genest said. “I went in one race after another one, gave everything I had. They were really close races in the quarters and semis. But I’m really happy I fought, because obviously it paid off with a bronze medal in the final.”
Genest’s Olympics aren’t done. On Friday she competes in the women’s sprint event at the Izu Velodrome, starting with the round of 32 and, if she advances, the round of 16. The quarter-finals go Saturday, with the semifinals and final both on Sunday.