Ellesse Andrews confirmed her status as one of the glamour figures of international women’s track cycling when she won the keirin gold medal in commanding style today.
Andrews, 24, took the silver medal in the keirin at the Tokyo Olympics and won the world title in 2023.
She was tipped as a potential gold medallist in Paris and didn’t disappoint.
Her progress to the gold medal ran extremely smoothly.
In the quarter-final, with four to progress to the semis, she eased into second spot. Into the semis, she turned up the heat and won well in a race in which fellow New Zealander Rebecca Petch was eliminated after finishing fifth.
Some big names missed out on the final, but there was still a lot of quality in the field. Nevertheless, Andrews controlled the race beautifully, relying on not only her speed but her strength.
She took the lead a long way out and repelled a couple of strong challenges to win by 0.062s from Dutchwoman Hetty van de Wouw, with Briton Emma Finucane third.
Having already helped the New Zealand track sprint team to a silver medal, Andrews is showing a wonderful temperament under extreme pressure in Paris.
Petch, who was also in that silver medal-winning sprint team, did well to move through the keirin quarter-finals with a third place, but was outpaced in the semi-final. She finished at the tail of the race for minor placings and ended up ranked 12th in the event.
Andrews said it was great to be in the lead at the bell. "I saw Finucane right on my hip coming into the bend and I knew I needed to accelerate and keep going."
She now joins Sarah Ulmer as New Zealand's only Olympic cycling gold medallists. "I feel like that's pretty insane.Sarah Ulmer was an amazing bike rider and is an amazing person. To be beside her is ridiculous."
Men’s omnium hope Aaron Gate was consistent, but couldn’t quite find the big performance he needed today.
The New Zealander was 9th in the scratch race, 8th in the tempo and 11th in the elimination, where he was ejected from the race disappointingly early. However, he rode a good points race, locking up 13 sprint points and 40 points for his efforts in lapping the field and finished that race 5th.
His fine points race boosted Gate to fifth overall, on 123 points. The popular winner was Ben Thomas of France with 164 points, with Iuri Leitao of Portugal taking silver and Fabio van den Bossche the bronze.