Paris 2024 Olympics - Track Cycling - Men's Sprint, Finals - Decider - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France - August 09, 2024. Jack Carlin of Britain celebrates after winning bronze. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) - Britain's Jack Carlin will hope to land his third medal of the Olympics in Sunday's keirin in what could turn out to be a feisty battle after he was accused of playing "rugby on wheels".
Carlin took a bronze in the men's sprint on Friday after winning a controversial decider against Dutchman Jeffrey Hoogland in which he came close to disqualification.
He has also won a team sprint silver in Paris.
"It's been a tough week. Expectations are there, and expectations of myself are there, and I'm managing to deliver so far, so bring on the keirin," said Carlin, who is still seeking his first gold medal from major championships.
While Carlin was delighted to repeat his podium finish from Tokyo, when he also came third in the sprint, the Dutch questioned his tactics and whether or not he should have even been allowed to start the decider.
Carlin was already riding on a 'warning' from the judges for an 'irregular movement' after scraping through his quarter-final against Japan's Kaiya Ota.
He looked in trouble when his decider against Hoogland was stopped after the two riders came together -- Carlin later admitting he had caused the incident.
Two warnings mean disqualification but Carlin was allowed to race on and narrowly won the restart, although again the Dutch felt the British rider had broken the rules which state the bike in front must not leave the sprinter's lane.
"He came out of the sprinter's lane," Netherlands coach Mehdi Kordi said. "The jury made it clear to me that, with all the incidents that happened the day before, with Carlin included -- basically rugby on wheels -- that if you come out of the sprinter's lane when it's engaged, we're going to penalise you.
"He came out of the sprinter's lane. It was two pedal strokes. I saw it with my own eyes. I was like, 'Great. We'll have an easy appeal.'"
However, the jury decided that Carlin's action had not influenced the outcome. "I'm still confused, I thought it was a formality," Kordi said.
The Dutch will be extra motivated for the keirin, which starts later on Saturday, after Harrie Lavreysen was denied gold in Tokyo by an audacious early sprint from now-retired British great Jason Kenny, who is Carlin's coach.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
