Great Britain win by three points in crash-marred Madison
Great Britain’s Neah Evans and Elinor Barker came out on top in a thrilling Women’s Madison.
A crash between the Dutch and Italian teams; Maike van der Duijn (Netherlands) and Martina Fidanza (Italy), needed medical attention, and officials stopped the race with two laps to go.
With both riders back on their feet and the track cleared, racing resumed with nine laps to race, but Italy’s Chiara Consonni had to try to hold the team’s fourth place in the standings without her teammate, as did Marit Raaijmakers for the Netherlands.
A separate crash very nearly took out Great Britain, but Evans rode through Ireland’s Alice Sharpe and Australia’s Alex Manly as they slid down the track, making a miraculous save to stay upright.
Manly got back in the race after the spill to help her team to the silver medal, with Georgian Baker taking second in the final sprint to seal the silver medal.
France’s Clara Copponi and Victoire Berteau got over Poland in the final sprint to secure the bronze medal.
The French team took the early lead but couldn’t match Great Britain as they were buoyed by the Scottish fans supporting their home rider Evans.
A mid-race breakaway from Australia and Poland could have threatened the home team’s lead, but they bridged across to snap up points to solidify their lead with two sprints remaining.
The crash between Manly and Sharpe hardly disrupted the intense battle for the penultimate sprint, but the more serious fall between Consonni and Van der Duijn briefly brought the race to a halt.
Upon the restart, Great Britain resumed their dominance, Poland got ahead of Italy into fourth, and the USA sprinted to sixth.
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain | 28 |
| Row 1 – Cell 0 | Neah Evans | |
| Row 2 – Cell 0 | Elinor Barker | |
| 2 | Australia | 25 |
| Row 4 – Cell 0 | Georgia Baker | |
| Row 5 – Cell 0 | Alexandra Manly | |
| 3 | France | 22 |
| Row 7 – Cell 0 | Victoire Berteau | |
| Row 8 – Cell 0 | Clara Copponi | |
| 4 | Poland | 21 |
| Row 10 – Cell 0 | Daria Pikulik | |
| Row 11 – Cell 0 | Wiktoria Pikulik | |
| 5 | Italy | 14 |
| Row 13 – Cell 0 | Martina Fidanza | |
| Row 14 – Cell 0 | Chiara Consonni | |
| 6 | United States | 10 |
| Row 16 – Cell 0 | Jennifer Valente | |
| Row 17 – Cell 0 | Lily Williams | |
| 7 | New Zealand | 10 |
| Row 19 – Cell 0 | Ally Wollaston | |
| Row 20 – Cell 0 | Bryony Botha | |
| 8 | Japan | 5 |
| Row 22 – Cell 0 | Yumi Kajihara | |
| Row 23 – Cell 0 | Tsuyaka Uchino | |
| 9 | Denmark | 2 |
| Row 25 – Cell 0 |
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