Paris Olympics: Women’s Omnium preview

When women’s Olympic track cycling was expanded to the same number of events as men’s and Omnium was first introduced in 2012 in the Olympic Games, supplanting such time-honoured races as the individual pursuit and the kilometre time trial for a single, multi-event competition, it caused no end of controversy. But after four Olympic cycles and some more significant changes in format, the Omnium has now become a well-established and exciting component of both the Games and the World Championships.

In 2021, after leading a crash-marred series from start to finish, the USA’s Jennifer Valente claimed the nation’s first Olympic track gold since 2000 when Marty Nothstein won the individual sprint in the Sydney Games.