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Allison Beveridge ninth in the Tokyo Olympic Games omnium

The rider from Calgary was also 11th in Rio 2016 omnium

August 8, 2021
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On the final day of the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympic Games, Allison Beveridge put in the final push of the pedals for Canadian cyclists in taking ninth place in the women’s omnium, a four-event competition. Beveridge was also part of Canada’s fourth place team pursuit quartet.

Beveridge was 11th in Rio 2016, where she earned bronze in the team pursuit. She also placed 10th in the 2018 World Championships omnium, 7th in 2019 and DNF in 2020. In the last World Cup she came second in the Brisbane, Australia round and third in the Cambridge, New Zealand round. The reigning world champion is Japan’s own Yumi Kajihara. U.S.A. Jennifer Valente was first overall in the 2019-2020 World Cup.

Scratch The field would all start together and the first over the line was the winner, a lapped rider must leave the race once they are overtaken by the peloton. There was a big crash that took out nine of the 21 riders, but Beveridge stayed upright to take seventh. Jennifer Valente took first.

Tempo In this race the women would roll 30 laps, with one point is awarded to the first rider each lap from the end of the 5th lap. Again, Valente was the first, and this time Beveridge came 11th. She was 10th overall with 50 points.

Elimination In this contest, at the end of every lap or every set number of laps, the last rider to cross the line is eliminated from the race. With just a handful of riders remaining, there’s a sprint for the finish. Beveridge was still there after better-known riders like Kristin Wild were eliminated. The Canadian survived until the unlucky 13th sprint and saw her red light illuminated. Seventh place moved Beveridge up to eighth overall. Valente was still in first spot and Yumi Kajihara sat second.

Beveridge was still in the last eight of the elimination race.

Points The longest of the omnium races (usually around 25 minutes), the points competition was played out over 20 km, or 80 laps. A sprint is held every ten laps, with 5, 3, 2, and 1 point awarded to the top four finishers in each sprint. There were double points for the last sprint.

Beveridge before the points race.

It was cagey going into the first sprint. Valente was part of a foursome that surged ahead, and the American won Sprint 1. Beveridge was well-positioned for Sprint 2 and picked up 2 points. Amelie Diderikson of Denmark tried to lap the peloton going into Sprint 3, but she nabbed the 5 points, moving her up to third overall.

Wild lit out after Diderikson before Sprint 4 and they worked together. Beveridge was fifth there but there were no points for her. Valente crashed just before Sprint 5 with Egyptian rider Ebtissam Zayad Ahmed, but the American still had the overall lead. Beveridge was in a second group for Sprint 6.

Wild pulled herself into bronze position by winning Sprint 7. Kajihara crashed soon after but hung on for silver behind Valente.