Germany’s Lea Friedrich achieved a world record during the qualification round for the Olympic women’s cycling sprint race at the National Velodrome on Friday.
The day witnessed an impressive display of speed on the track, with Canadian Tokyo Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell’s record of 10.154, set in Bolivia five years ago at high altitude, being surpassed multiple times.
Ellesse Andrews from New Zealand, who won the keirin gold medal on Thursday, was the first to break the record with a time of 10.108, followed by Friedrich who further improved it to 10.029.
Britain’s current world champion, Emma Finucane, aiming for her third medal at the Games, achieved a faster time than the previous record as she secured the second-fastest qualifying position with a time of 10.067. Later on, the top 24 riders advanced to the first round heats.
The track in Paris has proven to be exceptionally fast, with world records being broken in both the women’s and men’s team sprints, won by Britain and the Netherlands respectively.
Additionally, Australia broke the men’s team pursuit world record on their way to winning the gold medal.
