Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls land Madison silver on mixed day for Team GB in track cycling at Tokyo Olympics

Housemates Matt Walls and Ethan Hayter lit up the Izu Velodrome with an inspired final few laps to snatch silver in the men’s Madison behind favorites Denmark – then lit up the airwaves with some choice language.

Heading into the final few laps of the 200-lap race, a medal might be slipping away from the British pairing. Walls and Hayter had started strongly, forging an early lead. But as the lactic started to build, and the crashes started to pile up – Team GB was given a warning for causing one with Germany – the duo began to slip back.

“We set out on the front to get a bit of a headstart,” Hayter explained afterward, live on the TV. “My legs started to go first because it was so f——, flipping hard.” Heading into the final few laps, the British pair was in bronze medal position, six points behind France and only four clear of Belgium, who was streaking away to gain a lap.

Hayter, 22, and Walls, 23, proceeded to turn on the afterburners, rocketing through the field, passing the Belgians, and then winning the final sprint to claim the maximum 10pts available. That gave them 40 points, precisely what France finished on, thanks to their placing in the final sprint. Britain won on countback.

Ethan Hayter (left to right), Matt Walls, Lasse Norman Hansen, Michael Morkov, Benjamin Thomas, and Donavan Grondin – Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls land Madison silver on a mixed day for Team GB in track cycling at Tokyo Olympics – REUTERS.

It was a dramatic finale and could not have been more different from Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald’s comprehensive victory in the women’s Madison on Friday. Kenny and Archibald dominated that race from start to finish, winning 10 out of 12 sprints.

This was a chaotic, nail-biting affair that any five or six teams might have. But the final result was just as satisfying for a pair who live together in Gatley but have not had much practice together in the last year.

Hayter, one of Telegraph Sport’s Tokyo8 whose progress we charted in the build-up to these Games, suffered numerous injury problems in 2020, developing tendonitis last spring, then breaking his back in the summer, and finally his leg in the autumn.

When he finally returned this year, Walls contracted Covid and missed Gent GP, one of the few races. Hayter revealed after that race that he had joined in with some of the sessions Kenny and Archibald did with the Great Britain academy riders earlier this year to get some Madison practice in.

The British duo, who admitted that “technically” they were not one of the best pairs, tired in the middle part of the race but managed to hide in the wheels for a bit and then came on strong in the final. “We played it quite clever in the middle,” Hayter said. “It was a bit of a gamble. We knew we were behind the Danes, the Belgians, the Germans. If you get a few wheels, you can almost recover 60km and be on the black line.

“We both went through a bit of a rough patch. [But] I saw 35 laps to go, and I think I said to Matt: ‘I’m starting to come around a bit here; we can go for these last few sprints and go for something.” Ultimately, they only finished three points behind Danish world champions Michael Morkov – Mark Cavendish’s lead-out man at the recent Tour de France – and Lasse Norman Hansen.

“There were definitely some points in there we could have improved on, but we haven’t raced together in a Madison in a long time, so obviously, there were going to be some mistakes,” Hayter added. “We rode well; we were feeling good and came away with silver, so I’m pretty happy.

“I think the Danes came in as favorites anyway. We knew it would be hard to beat them. We were closer than we thought we would be.” It was the best result of a British pairing in a men’s Madison at an Olympics, beating the bronze that Bradley Wiggins and Rob Hayles won in Athens in 2004.

Jason Kenny lived to fight another day in defense of his Olympic m n’s keirin title but admitted his form is not where he hoped it would be. The 33-year-old had to go through the first-rounAfter finishing fourth in his opening heat, repechages after finishing fourth in his opening heat, but after-finals as he won his second race. Kenny scrapes through to join Carlin in the keirin quarter-finals.

Kenny has already bid farewell to his team sprint and individual sprint titles this week, finishing eighth on Thursday, and said he was not where he needed to be physically on Saturday. “I want to be the fastest basically, but blatantly I’m not the fas est,” he said. “It doesn’t mean I can’t come away with something from the Olympics.

“The keirin is all about being in the right place at the right time and, scrapping for every inch. “That’s what time and, now, that’s what I did today, and I’ll keep that mentality going forward and hopefully get something out of it.” Asked why he was not at his best, Kenny added: “That’ll be for the debrief afterward. For whatever reason, the tapering just hasn’t worked.

“We’ll have o sit down and work out why that was. Hopefully, it’s not that I’m just too old now and getting slower.  It’s not one to worry about for now. For the minute, we’ve got the form we’ve got, and we’ll try to make the most of it.” Carlin, who took bronze in the individual sprint on Friday, advanced after a crash-strewn heat of his own.

The Scot struck Malaysia’s Muhammad Sahrom in the first running of their heat, seemingly after getting a nudge from Dutchman Matthijs Buchli, forcing a rerun as Sahrom hit the deck and took out Kazakhstan’s Sergey Ponomaryov.

“Keirins like that. Look at today,” Carlin said. “There have been a lot of crashes and a lot of close calls. I think everyone’s doing whatever it takes to get through, and it’s dangerous. “It’s been manic. I hope it calms down tomorrow, to be honest with you.” PA

Marchant s medal hopes end in 2-0 defeat in women’s sprint

Katy Marchant’s hopes of a women’s sprint medal at these Games were ended in the quarter-finals as she was beaten 2-0 by Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze.

Marchant, who took Olympic bronze in 2016, triedIt means Marchant will leave the Games empty-handed after a crash on Thursday ended her keirin hopes. To go on the attack in both heats but could not then hold off the ast-finishing Lee down the straight. It means Marchant will leave the Games empty-had happened. . .

09: 9 am

Madison silver medallist Hayter the lat09:49 amon to drop an F-bomb on air

By Tom Morgan

Ethan Hayter became the latest British medal winner to turn the BBC One airwaves blue after securing a silver medal in the Madison. “It was so f—–, [corrects himself] flipping, hard,” was his rea tion after a thrilling finish with Matt Walls after Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny on Friday took gold in the women’s event.

LAST WEEK, the BBC repeatedly apologized after Adam Peaty’s repeated “F-bombs” after striking gold on live morning television. However, this time corporation executives saw no need for a show o  remorse over Hayter’s colorful language. The silver medal was Team GB’s 61st medal of the Tokyo Games. Peat, one of the early medal-winners, had sworn twice on air to p opt repeated apologies. Sworn, the BBC has had more significant worries than promising in Tokyo, with ongoing frustrations at only being able to screen two live events at any time. The broadcaster has daily viewer anger about sports being missed due to pay-TV giant Discovery striking a deal to take over the primary rights.

Ofcom’s chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, is calling for a review. In a letter to Damian Green MP this week, she states that the Disc deal does not need Ofcom’s consent as the pay-TV operator lacks exclusive rights. However, the letter adds that the Olympics “are unlikely to be available on public service channels without regulatory intervention. We recommended that the government consider whether it was now time to update the rules, including changing the time to ways that could strengthen public service media benefits.”

09:44 am

Starikova rounds off the session with a 09:44 amatory.

Olena Starikova of Ukraine wins the day’s final race after beating German rider Lea Friedrich, the fastest qualifier in the women’s sprint, after yet another late surge to win her best-of-three quarter-final match 2-1. Starikova joins Kelsey Mitchell (Canada), Emma Hinze (Germany), and Lee Wai-Sze (Hong Kong) in the semi-finals, which will start tomorrow at 2.18 am (BST).

09:38 a2.18 amr: We both suffered but bounced ba09:38 amly after winning silver in the men’s Madison, Ethan Hayter said they had suffered midway through the race before recovering with a late surge propelling them into the second spot.

“We sat out on the front to try and get a head start, but I just felt my legs go first because the first 100 laps were so hard,” Hayter said. “I started to suffer, then [teammate] Matt [Walls] started to suffer. [We] recovered and finished with a flourish.”

Walls, the 23-year-old from Oldham who won omnium gold earlier in the week, conceded that he was feeling a little ‘cooked’ midway through the fellas just cooked halfway in, at least,” he said. “We had a bit of gas at the end just to finish it off.”

09:21 am

T am GB rider Marchant loses quarter-fi09:21 and match 2-0

With barely a moment to catch a breath, it returned to the action for the second race of the women’s sprint quarter-finals. After losing her first match to Lee Wai-Sze of Hong Kong, Team GB rider Katy Marchant rode an aggressive race, attacking from some distance, but in the end, they ran out of legs in the final straight. The Briton will race again tomorrow, but sadly for her, not for a day.

Before Marchant’s match, German rider Lea Friedrich bounced back from her earlier defeat to go level with Olena Starikova of Ukraine; Kelsey Mitchell of Canada sealed her progress to the semi-finals after getting the better of compatriot Lauriane Genest and world champion Emma Hinze of Germany Shanne Braspennincx to progress with 2-0 win over the Dutchwoman.

09:03 AM

Denmark win Madison gold!

Frenchmen. Te09:03 amo Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls held on for silver, following a late surge ahead of the final sprint, where double points were up for grabs. Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin took bronze after, in the end, Belgium missed out on a medal despite their brave and thoroughly thrilling late efforts.

09:00 am

Belgium gains half a lap | ten laps to g09:00 max-day specialists are challenged and within a point of Team GB. The rest of the field cannot afford them to continue at this pace. 08:59 am

Team GB is holding on to bronze | 20 la08:59 am

Belgium goes within six points of Team GB and is off pursuing a lap that would propel them into the lead. There are two more sprints to go, and the riders run out o  track to gain a lap.

08:57 amrunn the march . . .

. . . and t08:57 among specialists are off in pursuit of some points – the 20 up for grabs for gaining a lap would move them into contention.

08:54 am

Denmark extend lead

08:52 am

Denmark ba08:54 amthe information | 50 08:52 amgo

The world champions Denmark, who have never lost an international meeting with Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov, are looking good for the gold medal, but will there be a late twist, and can anybody take a crucial lap on the rest of the field?

08:49 am

Team GB in the bronze medal position

Te08:49 admins a single point, but the Belgians are closing in on them while the Germans look to have woken up. France still leads the race, while Denmark is in the second spot with Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls currently on course for a bronze medal – but there’s a long way to go.

08:47 am

France into the lead

And they are scoop08:47 amhe intermediate points as they ride out before their rivals. Team GB, meanwhile, looks to be tiring.

08:44 am

France leapfrogs Team GB | With 80 laps08:44 having shifted to the front of the field, still chasing that elusive lap, France won the next sprint ahead of Team GB, who sat third.

08:41 am

Denmark inch ahead of Britain | 90 laps08:41 World champions Denmark lead due to their higher placings in the individual sprints. France wins the 11th sprint while Denmark pips Team GB to go level with Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls on 22 points. France is pushing to gain a lap to propel them into the lead and the box seat for gold.

08:39 am

The USA is down and quite possibly out

08:39 sees both riders – Adrian Hegyvary and Gavin Hoover – hit the deck. Not sure what happened, but their race may be over.

08:38 am

Denma k closed in on Britain | 100 laps 08:38 amt Ethan Hayter, and Matt Walls still lead at the halfway point by a single point.

08:35 am

Team GB extends lead | 110 laps to go

N08:35 amounts down, and Great Britain leads the men’s Madison final. No team has managed to gain a lap yet, although a few laps back, T am GB appeared to have a go at doing so. Nobody will give them an inch here today; every move marks closely

08:31 am

Danes close in on Team GB

One point in sep08:31 amaze leaders Britain and Denmark, while France is third, four points behind Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls.

08:26 am

Team GB takes the lead | 150 laps to go08:26 missed out on winning points in the previous sprint; Team GB crossed the second spot to gain three and go top.

08:25 am

The Netherlands claw back some ground

B08:25 am looking lively. The Netherlands won the next sprint, while Team GB failed to pick p a single point for the First Time in this 200-lap race. Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls will have to watch any teams that may attempt to gain a lap that can earn a pairing 20 points – the equivalent of four sprint wins.

08:22 am

Team GB wins the third sprint. . .

. . 08:22 am, another five points to their tally.

08:20 am

Team GB is holding on to the second spot at a08:20 am The second sprint

08:15 am

France takes an early lead; Team GB’s 08:15 ambiance wins the opening sprint to take an early lead after just ten laps of this 50km race, while Team GB is second, with the Dutch in third and Italy taking a single point. There will be another 19 sprints which offer plenty of opportunities to gain further points.

08:09 am

Hey! Ho! Let’s go | Over to the men’s M08:09 aminal . . .

Featuring 16  teams f two riders, the Madison is a relay-style race contested over 50 kilometers, or 200 laps, for the men. In contrast, the women’s that Team GB riders Katie Archibald and L ura Kenny won on Friday took place over 30km (120 laps).

It’s a little chaotic, especially while watching it on the television – it is easier following the action sitting in the velodrome – the game aims to take a lap on your rivals with 20 points earned by those that gain on the field. Further issues are made at each sprint in the race – every ten laps, Five, three, two, and one ends are won, with double the number up or grab in the final sprint of the endurance race.

Only one rider can be ‘racing’ at any time while their teammate rolls around the upper part of the velodrome. Switches between teammates are made via hand slings or even pushes, ut the former is a far more efficient way to operate in this fast and technical race.

08:07 am

Team GB rider Marchant loses race one at o08:07 amount the quarter-final.

A very close race. Advantage, Lee Wai-Sze of Hong Kong, won the first race of their w men’s sprint quarter-final against Team GB rider Katy Marchant. Elsewhere in the women’s sprint Olena Starikova of Ukraine beat Ge man rider Lea Friedrich in the first race of her quarter-final before Kelsey Mitchell won the battle of the Canadians by getting the better of compatriot Lauriane Genest. Moments later, Emma Hinze of Germany beat Dutchwoman Shanne Braspe Linux

07:56 am

Glaetzer rounds of keirin action with a07:56 am. Vastly experienced track rider Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) wins the final keirin race of the day, the heat four repechage, and will be joined in the next round by Kevin Quintero (Colombia), who finishes in the second spot.

07:52 am

Suriname rider Jair Tjon En Fa is throu07:52 ame next round!

It will surprise nobody to learn that world keirin champion Harrie Lavreysen won his repechage at a canter, but few may have predicted that he would be joined in the next round by Jair Tjon En Fa of Suriname

07:46 am

Kenny keeps the Olympic dream alive!

Ja07:46 amy wins his repechage.

07:44 am

Browne wins opening keirin repechage

Following a brief lull in the action, the men’s keirin competition is underway, with Kwesi Browne (Trinidad and Tobago) winning the opening repechage. At the same time, Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom (Malaysia), who cra hed earlier, bounced back to take the second spot and keep his campaign alive. Next up is the defending Olympic champion.

07:32 am

Back to the wo en’s sprint . . .

. . . 07:32 amine Genest of Canada wins her repechage to the quarter-finals and is joined by Olena Starikova of Ukraine, who won her race.

07:23 am

Carlin wins crash-marred keirin heat

The an07:23 misty heat featured just four riders after Sergey Ponomaryov (Kazakhstan) and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom (Malaysia) did not make the start line. Hugo Barrette of Canada crashed heavily and did not finish the race, which was won by Team GB rider Jack Carlin ahead of Dutchman Matthijs Büchli, who progresses to the next round with the 24-year-old Scot.

07:18 am

Wakimoto doubles down for Japan!

And th07:18 amis finding its voice as Yuta Wakimoto goes through to the next round as a qualifier, as does Kiwi Callum Saunders.

07:15 am

Nitta wins Japan’s first race!

Yudai Ni07:15 am his keirin heat, the first race a Japanese rider won at the Games. Denis Dmitriev (Russian Olympic Committee) looked strong and joined Itta in the next round. At the same time, Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands), perhaps not so f esh after winning men’s sprint gold on Friday, crawled over the line in fifth but went into the repechages. The reduced crowd inside the velodrome goes …. well, they ppolitelyapplaud their man.

07:10 am

Crowd favorite Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia rolls back the years to win his first keirin race of the day. In contrast, Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul is second, with b th progressing to the next round. Awang wins heat three, and Paul also qu07:10 am Frenchman. Sébasti n Vigier had looked strung but faded towards the end, suggesting he may have had a slow puncture.

07:04 am

Carlin’s heat is to be rerun following the 07:04 amic crash.

Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom crashed quite heavily after Team GB rider Jack Carlin slightly veered into his line of sight before Kazakhstan rider Sergey Ponomaryov rode into the Malaysian, causing him, too, to hit the deck. The race will be rerun shortly; ihe race commissaries will look at a few replays to see if any rider is guilty of illegal moves.

06:58 am

Kenny is off the pace and into keirin r06:58 ams

Maximilian Levy (Germany) and then Rayan Helal, the Frenchman who won the opening heat to go through. Jason Kenny, the defending in this discipline, started aggressively but was overhauled first by his old adversary. Kenny looked off the pace, crossed the fourth place, and will have another crack in the repechages.

06:50 am

And now to the one with the extra bike., 06:50 am men’s keirin

The keirin is an eight-lap track race that today will feature six riders in each first-round heat and five in the subsequent repechages. However, there will be seven bikes on the cedar wood boards of the velodrome. The seventh is not pedal-powered but an electric bike, otherwise,k own it s a derny bike (see below).

The derny starts the race with riders sitting in its slipstream as it gradually winds up the pace. Starting at 30kph, the vehicle gradually speeds up to 50kph before after reaching the pursuit line on the home straight, and with three laps remaining, it peels off the track.

No rider must pass the derny until it has left the track, at which point they are free to duel it out with the first two riders from each heat progressing to the quarter-finals, while the remaining four go through to one of the four repechages later this morning.

06:49 am

Team GB rider Marchant through to the q06:49 aminals

Some brave and canny racing from Katy Marchant saw a gap before darting below Lauriane Genest of Canada and powering away toward the line and into the quarter-finals. An excellent start for the 28-year-old from Leeds who crashed out the keirin just two days ago.

In the other two races – heats four and six – Lee Wai-size’s race with Mathilde Gros required a restart before the rider from Hong Kong pipped the Frenchwoman on the line in a closely fought race. Dutchwoman Shanne Braspennincx, meanwhile, beat Ukraine rider Olen  Starikova to go through.

06:36 am

Three heats down, three to go . . .

Lea06:36 amch of Germany won the first session heat ahead of Russian Olympic Committee rider Anastasiia Voinova before Kelsey Mitchell of Canada got the better of Kiwi rider Ellesse Andrews. In the third morning race, another German rider was celebrating aafterEmma Hinze brushed aside Chinese rider Zhong Tianshi following a late surge in the final lap of the 750-meter race.

06:30 am

Here we go | TTimefor the women’s 1/8 f06:30 am down to the last 12 riders, the winners of the six heats qualify for the quarter-finals that will also be contested today. Raced over three laps, these are one-off ties instead of the best- three matches that will decide the quarter-finals and subsequent rounds of the competition that will carry over to Sunday. At the same time, the losers will get another opportunity to advance through the repechages.

06:00 am

Morning

Hello and welcome to our live r06:00 analog from the penultimate day of track cycling at the Olympic Velodrome in Shizuoka, Japan. Following a pretty extraordinary performance from Katie Archibald d Laura Kenny on Friday when the Team GB riders won the first-ever women’s Olympic Madison title, Scottish sprinter Jack Carlin won a bronze medal. Briton Katy Marchant progressed to the sprint 1/8 finals; today should be another exciting morning of track cycling action from a British perspective if that’s your thing.

The Marchant above faces Lauriane Genest of Canada at 7.42 am (BST) in their one-off race to reach the the7.42 a.m.-finals, though whoever loses will get a second bite of the cherry and go through the repechages. Marchant, however, will be hoping to avoid the repechages and any  ded pressure of having to do an additional race and rest up in preparation for today’s quarter-finals.

On Friday, Jason Kenny, whose wife Laura moved up to fourth overall in the table of most decorated British Olympians, opens the defense of his keirin title at 7.48 am. With Laura looking to be one of the fav7.48 amto win Sunday’s omni m, the keirin represents Jason’s last chance for the sprinter from Bolton to ensure he has the bragging rights in their marital home – although one suspects he is not that kind of bloke. Jack Carlin, who won silver in the team sprint and bronze in Frida’s sprint, is also in action in the keirin, and while much of the focus will, understandably, be on Kenny, the Scot ma,y in fac,t represent Team GB’s best chance of a medal in the competition.

The only medal race of the day in the men’s Madison sees Ethan Hayter partner Matt Walls, the newly-crowned Olympic omnium champion, in the 200-lap race that gets underway at 8.55 am and should take around an hour to comple8.55 ever; the Team GB lads face some tough opponents, including Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov. They have never lost an international meeting while riding together and are the reigning world champions in the event, having prevailed in Berlin in 2020.