Mina Sato secured a second keirin gold for Japan at the 2024 Track World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark, building on Kento Yamasaki’s success earlier in the week.

Sprint champion Emma Finucane led into the final lap of this afternoon’s final, with Sato slotting in behind, before launching her attack out of corner two. With Finucane tiring on the black line, Sato took the lead out of corner four and into the home straight, winning by more than a bike length.

Hetty van de Wouw followed her into the silver medal position, as Katy Marchant caught her teammate with a late charge for bronze.

It’s Sato’s first UCI gold medal, after two keirin silvers in 2021 and 2022, and a bronze in the sprint earlier this week.

With the exception of the Olympics, where she exited in the quarter finals, Sato has had a stellar twelve months or so. She won sprint and keirin at the 2023 Asian Games, and took the big prize in Japan’s Girls Keirin Grand Prix at the end of last year. In 2024, she adds the UCI world title to successes in UCI Nations Cup, Japan Track Cup and All Star Keirin competition.

Before this week, Japan had only a single world keirin champion: Harumi Honda, who won the men’s title in Vienna in 1987.

The B final was won by Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri in an incredibly tight photo finish. China’s Wang Lijuan led into the final lap, but Mohd Asri got into her slipstream and fought all the way to the line.