PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Netherlands sprinter Herrie Leveysen says he aims to be back at Los Angeles 2028 for a third gold medal in men's track cycling sprinting as he stormed to his second Olympic gold in Paris on Friday.
"I will definitely be there. I will be there," he assured.
The world record holder, world champion and defending Olympic champion produced a thundering display of sprinting to beat Australia's Matthew Richardson.
"I felt really good today, it was my best day ever," commented Lavreysen, who admitted he had tried to keep something in the tank in his previous rounds.
"I try to keep my strength and not do too much. I have to save everything for the final," he added.
Both the Dutch rider and Richardson qualified for the final with relative ease and were clearly the fastest riders in the tournament, but Richardson could only express his admiration at the gold medal winner.
"Harrie is the greatest cyclist, probably, of all time. He's a 13-time world champion. He doesn't skip a beat. He wins like basically everything."
"To be close to someone like that, someone who does what Harrie does, is amazing to me," he commented, adding it was an "an amazing feeling," to get silver.
Italy's duo of Victoria Guazzini and Chiarra Consonni won the women's Madison race, claiming 37 points in the race ahead of Britain's Neah Evans and Elinor Barker with 31 and the Netherlands taking bronze with 28 points.
Italy won thanks to a 20-point bonus for lapping the field with a powerful sprint earlier in the race, while Team GB won the final sprint to claim 10 points that took them ahead of the Netherlands in a race over 120 kilometers of the track.
Gold was a perfect way for Italy to recover after finishing fourth in the team pursuit earlier in the week.
"It's really hard to find the words in this moment. We don't believe it," said Guazzini after the race, adding her and Consonni had shown they were a "great team" that "fought until the end."
Neah Evans explained the Madison was very "unpredictable," but added that she and Barker had "stuck to the plan pretty well" although they were surprised the Italians had been able to steal their vital lap.
"It's really rare for a lap to go and stick," she said, but was nevertheless delighted with silver.
"To come away with a medal is huge because there's nothing guaranteed with the Madison. It's unorganized chaos. So we are delighted," said the British rider.
In the early rounds of the women's sprint, Lea Friedrich of Germany, who set a new world record in qualifying, reached the last 16 at ease, along with world champion Emma Finucane of Great Britain.
Keirin gold medalist Ellesse Andrews also cruised through, along with British rider Sophie Capewell, who won gold on Monday in the team sprint.
