Canadian Nick Wammes, youngest competitor in the Tokyo 2021 men’s sprint, earns a victory
Hugo Barrette enjoys second Olympic experience
Canadians Hugo Barrette and Nick Wammes were in individual sprint action on Wednesday’s third day of Tokyo Olympic Games track cycling, with Wammes going the further of the two. Wammes made it into the 1/16 finals repechage where he would succumb to the experience of Mohd Azizulhasni Awang.
The sprint began with qualifying, a flying start 200-m challenge. Twenty-four of 30 riders would advance. Barrette was fourth to roll and Wammes eighth. Barrette posted 9.596, and Wammes’ 9.587 was the fastest time until Brit Jack Carlin of Great Britain set a new Olympic record of 9.306. Dutchmen Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen soon broke Carlin’s Olympic high mark with 9.215.
After 20 riders Wammes stood fifth and Barrette eighth. After the full compendium of 30, Wammes sat 12th and Barrette 15th.
In the first round, Hugo Barrette was pitted against Frenchman Sebastien Vigier of France in Heat 10, and Nick Wammes faced German Stefan Boetticher in Heat 12.
Barrette vs Vigier
Vigier, 12th in the 2020 World Championships, had the advantage of coming from the back. It was desperately close, but the Frenchman nipped the Canadian. It would be repechage Heat 2 versus Malaysia’s Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Poland’s 2020 world championships bronze medallist Mateusz Rudyk for Barrette.
Wammes vs Boetticher
The German was 10th in the 2020 world championships. Again, the Canadian was forced to ride from the front, but this time the rider in light blue prevailed. Wammes would head to the 1/16 finals.
Barrette’s Repechage
A three-way sprint is pretty chaotic. Barrette went to the front and when the Canadian and Malaysian looked over their right shoulders, the Pole pushed forward on the left. But it was Sahrom who was the easily the fastest.
Wammes vs Dmitriev
In the 1/16 final’s fifth heat Wammes drew Denis Dmitriev of the Russian Olympic Committee. Wammes held the front going into the bell lap but the Russian, the 2017 world champion, had the better of the youngest rider in the competition.
Wammes vs Awang
Wammes would face another experienced opponent in his repechage: Malaysian legend Awang, who was once best known for getting his calf skewered with a piece of the Manchester velodrome ten years ago.
Against the Pocket Rocketman, Wammes couldn’t hold his competitor off on the outside.
