DUTCH star Harrie Lavreysen surged to the men’s Olympic keirin title on Sunday to end British dominance of an event they had won at every Olympics since 2008.
The 27-year-old edged Australia’s Matthew Richardson by 0.056 secs for his third gold in Paris. Another Australian, Matthew Glaetzer, won the bronze.
It was the third gold of the Games for the irrepressible Lavreysen after claiming the sprint and team sprint titles.
The win snapped a long British stranglehold that saw Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny win the last four golds.
With both retired, their successors Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull fell short.
Carlin came fifth but Turnbull suffered a nasty crash in the semi-finals, colliding with Germany’s Luca Spiegel in an accident that left both men lying dazed on the track.
In a shock, Colombia’s reigning world champion Kevin Quintero was eliminated in the quarter-finals, as was Dutch former world silver medallist Jeffrey Hoogland.
Invented in Japan in 1948, the keirin involves riders lurking behind a motorised pacemaker before exploding in a sprint to the line over the last three laps.
Glaetzer was the first to make the move with Richardson following, but Lavreysen’s stunning burst of speed in the final lap saw him home.
