PARIS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Reigning world champion Ellesse Andrews won gold in the women's Keirin race, while French rider Benjamin Thomas lifted the roof off the Olympic velodrome when he won the men's omnium event on Thursday.
Andrews finished ahead of Hetty van de Wouw of the Netherlands, who won the silver medal, while British rider Emma Finucane claimed bronze ahead of her teammate Katy Marchant.
Andrews' win turned the tables on the British riders, who had formed part of the women's team sprint trio that took gold ahead of New Zealand on Monday.
"I feel like this journey has been coming. This is just an absolute pinnacle moment of my cycling career. I began cycling when I was 14 years old and began sprinting when I was 19, and here we are at 24. It has been a journey, and it's been an amazing one," said Andrews.
"Tokyo was so special to me and that silver was an amazing bonus at that time and such a special moment to reflect back on now. But to come here and to do one better..." she added.
Meanwhile, Finucane said to win a second medal was "surreal," and said it was for her "family, for the support they have given me."
The Keirin race is held over six laps of the track, with the first three behind a pacing motorbike, which brings the riders up to speed before pulling aside for the frantic race over the last three circuits.
There was disappointment for China's duo of Yuan Liying and Guo Yufang who were eliminated in the quarterfinals, with Yuan also involved in a fall after she had crossed the finish line.
Thomas recovered from a fall in the last of the four events in the omnium to take gold ahead of Iuri Leitao of Portugal, with Belgium's Fabio van den Bossche third.
"I will never forget this day," he said after the race, before explaining his feelings after hitting the boards.
"I tried to stay calm. First, I checked my bike to see everything was OK. Then I looked at myself to make sure nothing was broken. Fortunately, I crashed on the right, and it was not such a hard crash," explained the rider, who commented that falling upwards onto the banking of the velodrome meant the fall was "not so hard."
The omnium covers a total of 45 kilometers and is split into four separate races, (scratch, tempo, elimination and points) where riders look to win as many points as possible by winning intermediate sprints, completing extra laps and finishing as high up the field as possible.
Thomas won the scratch race, which saw the riders complete 40 circuits of the 250-meter track.
Van den Bossche claimed the tempo race, which sees sprints every four laps, while Ethan Hayter strongest in the elimination race where riders drop out after every two laps, although Thomas was third in that and despite his fall, he claimed enough points in the final points race to take gold.
Thursday also saw the quarterfinals of the men's sprint, with Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands qualify for the semifinals, along with Matthew Richardson of Australia and Jack Carlin of Britain.
World champion Lavreysen and Richardson both won their best-of-three heats 2-0, while Hoogland and Carlin needed a third leg, and Carlin was very lucky when his rival Kaiya Ota of Japan was disqualified from their second heat for a dangerous maneuver.
