There were eyecatching performances from the Japanese riders in the first round of men’s keirin at the Track World Championships in Ballerup. Kaiya Ota and Shinji Nakano both won their heats, with Kento Yamasaki snatching second behind Colombia’s Kevin Quintero, to safely book their places in the quarter finals.
Dutch sprint star Harrie Lavreysen took the win in a very close second heat, ahead of Trinidad & Tobago’s Nicholas Paul, with Santiago Ramirez just behind in third. The Colombian missed out on automatic qualification, and must go again in the repechages.
Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev recorded the fastest final 200m, winning the hotly contested final heat by just 0.015s from Jeffrey Hoogland. But there was disappointment for Team GB, with Hayden Norris and Harry Ledingham-Horn both missing out.
Riders have just an hour to recover before the repechage races: again, they will need to be in the first two to proceed.
Heat 1
| โ | Quintero | COL ๐จ๐ด |
| โ | Yamasaki | JPN ๐ฏ๐ต |
| 3 | To | HKG ๐ญ๐ฐ |
| 4 | Spiegel | GER ๐ฉ๐ช |
| 5 | Lendel | LTU ๐ฑ๐น |
Heat 2
| โ | Lavreysen | NED ๐ณ๐ฑ |
| โ | Paul | TTO ๐น๐น |
| 3 | Ramirez | COL ๐จ๐ด |
| 4 | Kang | TPE ๐ณ๏ธ |
| 5 | ฤechman | CZE ๐จ๐ฟ |
Heat 3
| โ | Ota | JPN ๐ฏ๐ต |
| โ | Rudyk | POL ๐ต๐ฑ |
| 3 | Ortega | COL ๐จ๐ด |
| 4 | Elliott | AUS ๐ฆ๐บ |
| 5 | Ridwan | MAS ๐ฒ๐พ |
Heat 4
| โ | Nakano | JPN ๐ฏ๐ต |
| โ | Shah Firdaus | MAS ๐ฒ๐พ |
| 3 | van Loon | NED ๐ณ๐ฑ |
| 4 | Hedgcock | CAN ๐จ๐ฆ |
| 5 | Moro | ITA ๐ฎ๐น |
| 6 | Norris | GBR ๐ฌ๐ง |
Heat 5
| โ | Yakovlev | ISR ๐ฎ๐ฑ |
| โ | Hoogland | NED ๐ณ๐ฑ |
| 3 | Cornish | AUS ๐ฆ๐บ |
| 4 | Tjon En Fa | SUR ๐ธ๐ท |
| 5 | Ledingham-Horn | GBR ๐ฌ๐ง |
| 6 | Kurdidi | KAZ ๐ฐ๐ฟ |