Lavreysen and Hoogland fall short in Keirin event, Japanese Yamasaki stunts with World Championship gold

A big surprise at the World Track Cycling Championships in Ballerup: Harrie Lavreysen failed in the semifinals of the Keirin event. As a result, Lavreysen's quartet of world titles is over. Hoogland advanced to the finals but fell short of the medals and finished last. Surprisingly, the gold went to Japan's Kento Yamasaki.

The second sprint event of the World Championships was the Keirin. In that event, a group of six sprinters is brought up to speed by a pacer. When he leaves the track, it is then up to the sprinters. They then ride three more laps to decide the race. Defending champion Lavreysen could set a remarkable record if he won the Keirin. After all, it would be his fifteenth world title on the track. That would make him the absolute record holder. After winning the Team Sprint, Lavreysen was tied with Frenchman Arnaud Tournant.

Lavreysen qualified convincingly for the semifinals of the Keirin on Thursday afternoon by winning his heat. Jeffrey Hoogland also made it to the semifinals. He had to accept only one rider ahead of him in his heat. The first round was also the end for the third Dutch competitor, Tijmen van Loon. In the semifinals, Lavreysen and Hoogland were in the same heat. They were in fourth and fifth position. With two laps to go, they moved up to second and third. Whereas Hoogland then advanced to the lead position and won the heat, Lavreysen remarkably lost a position and finished fourth. With that, he was surprisingly eliminated; thus, a fifteenth-world title was not on the horizon. Later this tournament, Lavreysen will still be in action in the Kilometer and the Sprint.

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Hoogland falls short of medal

So, there was no Lavreysen in the final, but Hoogland did, who had a good chance for a medal. He competed against defending champion Colombian Kevin Quintero, Pole Mateusz Rudyk, Israeli Mikhail Yakovlev, Brit Harry Ledingham-Horn, and Japanese Yamasaki. After the pacer was gone, Hoogland took the lead right away. Quintero came close and tried to pass Hoogland, entering the final lap. That was successful; Hoogland fell behind, but Quintero, in turn, was surprised by Japanese Yamasaki, who took the gold. The silver was for Yakovlev, and defending champion Quintero went home with bronze.