Japanese riders delighted the crowds while Team GB repeatedly proved their dominance in the second round of the 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong, China (March 15-17).
Seasoned stars and promising young talents alike came together at the weekend to deliver suspense-packed track cycling action in the Hong Kong Velodrome, which hosted the second round of the 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup. In the overall standings, Great Britain (19691.0) increased their lead ahead of Australia (19520.0) and New Zealand (17904.0). Japan (17433.0) follow closely in 4th place, looking to beat New Zealand to the podium position in the final round in Milton, Canada (April 12-14).
British stars secured the most wins in the second round, taking four victories in total: the men’s elimination race (William Perrett), the women’s sprint and women’s keirin (both Emma Finucane), and the women’s team sprint (Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant).
New Zealand and Japan shared the glory of winning the most medals with six podiums each. That included three victories for New Zealand, in the men's omnium (Aaron Gate), the men's Madison (Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart) and the women's team pursuit (Bryony Botha, Samantha Donnelly, Emily Shearman and Nicole Shields); and two victories for Japan, in the women's omnium and the women's elimination race (both Yumi Kajihara).
Emma Finucane, a force to be reckoned with
Following their long-standing tradition of success in international track cycling events, Team GB once again demonstrated their strength ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. After claiming eight medals in the first round of this year’s Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup, they continued their winning streak in the second round, even without their women’s endurance squad.
At 21 years old, the sprint UCI World Champion Emma Finucane led the charge. Together with her teammates Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, she kicked the weekend off with a victory in the team sprint ahead of Germany’s Lea-Sophie Friedrich, Pauline Grabosch and Emma Hinze, the reigning UCI World Champions and 2020 Olympic Games silver medalists in the specialty.
On Saturday, Finucane doubled down by winning the women’s sprint, beating former UCI World Champions Friedrich, in the semi-final, and Mathilde Gros (FRA), in the final.
The young British star completed her hat-trick on Sunday, winning the women’s keirin in dominant fashion ahead of Hinze and Alina Lysenko (AIN).
William Perret, a five-time national champion across several disciplines including the 2024 points race, completed the British success with a gold medal in the men’s elimination race on Friday.
Hong Kong hat-trick for Finucane! 🚀
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) March 17, 2024
Emma Finucane stormed to keirin gold at round 2 of the 2024 UCI Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong 🇭🇰, completing her dominance of the women's sprint this weekend.
A fine attack on the final lap saw her finish well ahead of the chasing pack… pic.twitter.com/jlJQvSHZF3
Japanese make their mark ahead of Paris 2024
Japanese riders demonstrated their ambitions for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games later this year with shows of strength across both the sprint and endurance specialties.
The reason they didn’t dominate the medal table of this round is that they are split across their national team and UCI Track Team Rakuten K Dreams (RKD). But counting all Japanese riders together, they totalled ten medals in the three days.
Kaiya Ota, riding for RKD, was especially impressive in sprint events. Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen suffered from food poisoning and had to withdraw from the competition, leaving room for Ota and Matthew Richardson (AUS) to battle for glory. Ota powered to the win in both the men’s keirin on Saturday and the men’s sprint on Sunday. Richardson had tasted gold earlier in the weekend, winning the men’s team sprint alongside his Aussie teammates Thomas Cornish and Leigh Hoffman (after Matthew Glaetzer had raced the qualifying instead of Cornish).
Ota’s compatriots dominated the women’s endurance disciplines, with Maho Kakita and Tsuyaka Uchino (riding for RKD) claiming the gold medal in the women’s Madison on Saturday ahead of New Zealand (Bryony Botha and Emily Shearman) and the Netherlands (Marit Raaijmakers and Lisa van Belle).
On Friday, Yumi Kajihara won the women's elimination race in a thrilling finish against Anita Yvonne Stenberg (NOR), the 2024 UEC European Champion in the omnium. Kajihara continued her winning streak in the women's omnium on Sunday, dominating the scratch, elimination and points races.
Racking up medals all across the weekend, Japanese riders also impressed in the men’s team pursuit, but Eiya Hashimoto, Naomi Kojima, Kazushige Kuboki and Shoe Matsuda had to settle for silver behind the Danish experts Tobias Hansen, Lasse Leth, Frederik Madsen and Robin Skivild.
The final round of the 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup will take place in Milton (Canada), on 12-14 April.