Women’s team sprint
With Emma Finucane, the youngest sprint world champion in nearly half a century, seeking to become the first female rider to win three Olympic gold medals in a single Games, any of her three targets – individual sprint, team sprint and keirin – will be essential viewing. But the team sprint, in which she seems to thrive, is perhaps the most thrilling of all. It is also the first time that the women’s team sprint will be contested by a team of three riders. The 21-year-old from Carmarthen had a stellar 2023, winning medals at the European championships, a gold medal in the Nations Cup and her first-world title in Glasgow. She will be the rider to beat in the women’s sprints at the Olympic velodrome.
Men’s team pursuit
Dan Bigham may, by his own admission, not be quite the fastest pursuiter on the track, but he is almost undoubtedly the smartest. Beaten to the gold medal last year in the world championships in Glasgow by a rider he had mentored – Filippo Ganna of Italy – the engineer, aerodynamicist, coach and innovator now insists he is more selfish in pursuit of his own goals. After sitting out the last Olympics while working for Denmark, Bigham is now on the boards, competing in his first Games. Team GB want to reclaim the Olympic team pursuit title that slipped from their grasp in Tokyo and Bigham is convinced they can find the edge required to do it.
Men’s keirin
The Scottish sprinter Jack Carlin, a silver and bronze medallist in Tokyo, is tipped to take a medal in the keirin, the frenetic race that combines stamina with speed, and requires the sharpest sprinting instincts. But after serial silvers in multiple championships, will Carlin finally take gold? He has already appeared on the podium in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, in 2016, when he took silver in the European Track Championships team sprint. A consistent medallist in past championships in the keirin, the wider track and faster conditions in the Olympic velodrome, allied to the many near-misses, may further his chances.
Women’s team pursuit
In another bid to reclaim a lost title, Team GB will be seeking to win back the team pursuit crown, after taking silver three years ago in Tokyo. The suggestion is that they will come very close after winning the team pursuit at the world championships in Glasgow in 2023, with the reliable Elinor Barker, Josie Knight and, the Olympic Games debutant Anna Morris all competing in that lineup, alongside Katie Archibald. That win prompted further success but, with Archibald sidelined, there will be stiff competition from New Zealand, Italy, France, Australia.
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Men’s Madison
Fifteen nations, two-rider teams, incomprehensible tactics and a century of history, the Madison is one of the highlights of any Olympic track programme and requires a laser-like focus. Characterised by hand-slings and breakaways and decided by points accumulated in 50km of racing, the Madison was dropped for several Olympic cycles until it made a comeback in Tokyo. The hotly tipped Dutch team, as world title holders, are favourites, but keep an eye out for the four-time Olympian Michael Mørkøv, the Danish former lead-out man to the Tour de France record-breaking stage winner Mark Cavendish, who is seeking to defend the title he won in Japan three years ago.
