Britain’s Matthew Walls wins Tokyo Olympics men’s omnium
Campbell Stewart and Elia Viviani finish second and third
Photo by:
Sirotti
British cyclist Matthew Walls took the gold medal in the men’s Omnium at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, performing strongly in all four races of the event. This is the first Olympics for the 23-year-old, who also rides for Bora–Hansgrohe on the road.
In second place, 24 points behind Walls, was Campbell Stewart of New Zealand. Stewart was followed by 2016 Italian gold medalist Elia Viviani. While Viviani had a bad start to his racing, he managed to pull out a win in the elimination race and a spot on the podium.
Back-to-back racing
All four events were in one afternoon of racing, challenging riders to push themselves to their limits.
Walls set the tone by winning the opening scratch race. He followed up by joining a breakaway group of five during the 10-kilometre tempo race, managing to lap the field and put some distance between the breakaway and other riders. Australia’s Sam Welsford won the bunch sprint in the event.
Viviani finished first in the elimination race, just beating out Wells. While the win brought back hope for Viviani, who was 14th in the scratch race and eighth in the tempo race, Wells’ second place just served to bump up his lead.
Finally, in the points race, Walls gained a lap with American Gavin Hoover, winning the second of the 10 sprints. With a 30 point lead on the field, the British rider successfully ensured that Viviani and Welsford didn’t gain too much on him during the rest of the race.
