Van de Wouw brutaal naar laatste vier op sprint, Lavreysen op koers voor ‘Harrie’s hattrick’

Track cyclist Hetty van de Wouw has qualified for the semi-finals of the Olympic sprint tournament in Paris in a surprisingly impressive manner. The 26-year-old from Brabant – called ‘Hetty Raketty’ by her colleagues – outclassed home favorite Mathilde Gros in the eighth finals and silenced the French audience. After that, she was too strong for the British Sophie Capewell in two heats.

In the semi-finals, Van de Wouw will face German Lea Friedrich on Sunday (11:22). “I haven’t beaten her yet, but I didn’t lose that badly at the European Championships. I’m going to watch some more videos, even though I’ve seen them a thousand times. But I want to stay true to myself. And when you’re in the semi-finals, anything is possible.” Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland qualified for the quarter finals of the keirin without too much trouble. The quarter finals are on Sunday from 11.29.

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Breakthrough of the Wouw

Van de Wouw is experiencing her breakthrough at the Games. With the surprising silver medal in the keirin earlier this week, her tournament could not be ruined. In that event, tactics and sometimes a bit of luck play a greater role than in the classic sprint tournament, where pure strength usually makes the difference.

The sprint tournament started on Friday morning with the qualification over 200 meters, in which Van de Wouw came eighth. The order in that qualification then determined the further course in the sprint tournament. “That eighth qualifying spot was a bit disappointing,” Van de Wouw reflected after her successful quarter finals. “My time was just fast, but seven went even faster.”

“You want to ride as hard as possible for your confidence and because it makes it easier to get opponents,” she explained. “But it doesn’t say everything. Today I just beat the number four and number five.” Her first opponent on Thursday, the Mexican Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez, proved to be no match for the Brabant player and in the second round she was a belt better than the New Zealander Shaane Fulton.

Home favorite

With home favorite Gros – the 2022 world champion – Van de Wouw had a formidable opponent in the eighth finals on Friday. After all, Gros became world champion in this event two years ago on the same track in Saint-Quinten-en-Yvelines. In the previous five duels between the two, Van de Wouw never came out on top. However, the Brabantian left no doubt as to who was the strongest.

Was she perhaps fresher than on Friday? “I think so. I had a fairly short night after that silver medal. Now I just had a bit more recovery time. And that did me good.” Van de Wouw then won the first heat with a small difference from the on paper stronger Capewell. In the second heat Van de Wouw rode with the highest speed of all quarter finalists the British then straight out of the wheel. On Sunday she will compete against the experienced German Lea Friedrich, who set a world record in the 200 meters in the qualifications. “I’m really looking forward to it. I’m just going to do what I did today.”

For Steffie van der Peet, the other Dutch participant in the women’s sprint tournament, the tournament ended yesterday against world champion Emma Finucane. Finucane, like Van de Wouw, reached the semi-finals and will meet New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews, the Olympic champion in the keirin.

Lavreysen whistling through

Lavreysen’s mission is Olympic gold in the team sprint, the individual sprint and the keirin. He has already won the first two parts of Harrie’s Hattrick, but the fact that the keirin offers the least certainty of a medal was proven three years ago in Japan.

Then in the final Lavreysen was surprised by an early attack from sprint legend Jason Kenny and ultimately had to settle for bronze. In the round of 16 in Paris, Lavreysen – three-time world champion in this event – had to swerve after a crazy manoeuvre by an opponent, but he then decisively took control and rode his opponents to a distance of metres.

For Hoogland, the keirin is the competition of revenge. Three years ago, he was not selected to participate in the sprint event. Furthermore, Hoogland controversially missed out on bronze in the individual sprint on Friday. Britain’s Jack Carlin was in violation twice in the decisive third heat for bronze, but remained unpunished and won.

The lenient attitude towards Carlin was much criticised afterwards and it may have played a role the next day. In the heat of Hoogland, the experienced Malaysian Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (in his fifth Games) was disqualified when he passed the derny prematurely. Awang then watched in tears as Hoogland qualified directly for the quarter-finals behind Australian Matthew Glaetzer. Surinamese Jaïr Tjon-en-Fa, who finished fourth in this event in Tokyo, was eliminated in the repechage.