Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's Madison

Women's Madison
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic track cycling
VenuesIzu Velodrome
Date6 August 2021
Competitors30 from 15 nations
Teams15
Winning points78
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Katie Archibald
Laura Kenny
 Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Amalie Dideriksen
Julie Leth
 Denmark
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gulnaz Khatuntseva
Maria Novolodskaya
 ROC
2024 →

The women's Madison event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 August 2021 at the Izu Velodrome.[1] 30 cyclists (15 teams of 2) from 15 nations competed.[2]

Background

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This was the debut appearance of the women's event. The men's Madison was held from 2000 to 2008, then was dropped for 2012 and 2016 because there was no women's equivalent. The event returned in 2020 with a new women's counterpart.[3]

The reigning (2020) world champions are Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters of the Netherlands.

Russia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands are traditionally strong track cycling nations, while Belgium and France have strong pedigrees in Madison events.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 1 team of 2 cyclists in the madison. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The 8 top nations in the team pursuit rankings automatically qualified a team in the Madison. The best 8 NOCs in the madison rankings (not already qualified through the team pursuit) also qualified to enter madison teams. The NOCs qualifying directly in the madison also earned 1 spot in the omnium.[2] Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition format

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A madison race is a tag team points race that involves all 16 teams competing at once. One cyclist from each team competes at a time; the two team members can swap at any time by touching (including pushing and hand-slinging). The distance is 120 laps (30 km). Teams score points in two ways: lapping the field and sprints. A team that gains a lap on the field earns 20 points; one that loses a lap has 20 points deducted. Every 10th lap is a sprint, with the first to finish the lap earning 5 points, second 3 points, third 2 points, and fourth 1 point. The points values are doubled for the final sprint. There is only one round of competition.[4][5]

Schedule

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All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)[6]

Date Time Round
6 August 2021 17:15 Final

Results

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The inaugural title was won in utterly dominant fashion by Great Britain's 'superteam' of Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald. Of 12 full sprints, Kenny and Archibald won ten, including the first three sprints in a row, six sprints in a row mid race, and the double points sprint to conclude the race; they scored points in all twelve sprints, and still found time and space to take a lap on the field. Of the theoretically available 65 sprint points, they took 58 - no other team took more than 21.

By winning the inaugural women's madison, Laura Kenny completed a hat-trick of inaugural wins, having won (and then defended) the inaugural women's team pursuit and omnium titles in 2012. She also became the first female cyclist, or female British Olympian, to claim five gold medals, making her Great Britain's most successful female Olympian, and the most successful Olympic female cyclist, in history. This mirrored the achievements of her husband Jason Kenny who took the male versions of both these achievements with gold in men's keirin.

Rank Cyclist Nation Sprint Laps Finish
order
Total[7]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 +
1st place, gold medalist(s) Katie Archibald
Laura Kenny
 Great Britain 5 5 5 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 1 10 20 1 78
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Amalie Dideriksen
Julie Leth
 Denmark 2 2 1 1 3 3 3 20 9 35
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gulnaz Khatuntseva
Maria Novolodskaya
 ROC 3 1 2 20 6 26
4 Amy Pieters
Kirsten Wild
 Netherlands 3 3 3 3 3 2 4 3 21
5 Clara Copponi
Marie Le Net
 France 2 3 2 3 2 5 2 4 19
6 Daria Pikulik
Wiktoria Pikulik
 Poland 1 1 1 6 2 9
7 Georgia Baker
Annette Edmondson
 Australia 2 5 2 7 9
8 Elisa Balsamo
Letizia Paternoster
 Italy 1 1 8 2
9 Megan Jastrab
Jennifer Valente
 United States 1 5 1
10 Lotte Kopecky
Jolien D'hoore
 Belgium 2 20 11 –18
11 Jessie Hodges
Rushlee Buchanan
 New Zealand 1 40 10 –39
12 Franziska Brauße
Lisa Klein
 Germany 40 12 –40
13 Emily Kay
Shannon McCurley
 Ireland 40 DNF
Yumi Kajihara
Kisato Nakamura
 Japan 40
Pang Yao
Leung Bo Yee
 Hong Kong 40

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling Track Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Road Cycling" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  3. ^ "Olympic Track Cycling at Tokyo 2020: Top Five Things to Know". Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  4. ^ "UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS PART 3 TRACK RACES" (PDF). UCI. 6 December 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ Liam Nee (26 March 2021). "Cycling 101: Competition format". NBC. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Cycling Track – Competition Schedule" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 12 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Cycling Track – Women's Madison – Results" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 6 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.