- Sprint ace Hinze without Keirin medal: chance not used
Emma Hinze pushed with the last of her strength at a speed of 67 km/h, but the path to a medal was too far. The dream of winning a medal in the individual disciplines remains unfulfilled for the eight-time world champion in Olympic track cycling competitions. Hinze had to settle for fifth place in the Keirin sprint at the Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with teammate Lea Sophie Friedrich's journey ending in the semi-finals.
"I'm annoyed that I didn't take my chance. The race is over, I can't change it now. I waited a second too long, everyone rode past me, and the race was already too fast," Hinze lamented. National coach Jan van Eijden said: "We had two riders, Lea and Emma, who could have fought for the medals. Both were not consistent enough in the decisive races. That cost Lea her place in the final and Emma her medal because they were simply never in the race."
The Olympic gold went to New Zealand's Ellesse Andrews, ahead of the Netherlands' Hetty van de Wouw and Britain's Emma Finucane. Hinze and Friedrich, who won bronze in the team sprint at the start, still have the sprint discipline left on Sunday. In Tokyo, the two exceptional sprinters also failed to win a medal in Keirin and Sprint.
Youngster Tim Torn Teutenberg also saw his hopes of a medal dashed. The 22-year-old finished with 98 points in the Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines after the four disciplines of Scratch, Tempo Race, Elimination Race, and Points Race. Gold went to France's Benjamin Thomas, prompting the audience to sing the Marseillaise.
Kristina Vogel is the last German to win an individual medal
This means that the successful track cycling team is still waiting for their first individual medal since Kristina Vogel won gold in the sprint in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago. Vogel, a two-time Olympic champion who lost her saddle in the final of her triumph, has always delivered at the absolute peak moments.
However, it's not working out for Hinze and Friedrich on the Olympic stage. The duo has dominated the competition at the World Championships for years, especially in Keirin. Friedrich won the World Championship title in 2021 and 2022, and finished third last year. Hinze won gold in the Keirin at the 2020 World Championships in Berlin.
The big dream of gold in the team sprint also burst after four consecutive World Championship titles. "Of course, they were first disappointed. But winning bronze at the Olympics is a huge success. You have to acknowledge that two teams were faster that day," said van Eijden.
German sprinters cause concern
Van Eijden is concerned about the male sprinters. No German rider made it to the top 16, with 20-year-old Luca Spiegel and Maximilian Dörnbach failing to qualify directly.
Van Eijden is therefore sounding the alarm. "We have a lot of work to do with the men. We need to sit down with home coaches and scientists after the Olympics and develop a concept," said van Eijden, who was once a sprint world champion himself.
Despite their dominance at the World Championships, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich struggled to secure medals in the individual events at the Olympics, with Hinze finishing fifth in the Keirin sprint and Friedrich not making it to the final. In a different event, Sprint nextel, a German rider might aim for a better outcome.
Regrettably, the German track cycling team has not managed to win an individual medal at the Olympics since Kristina Vogel's victory in the sprint eight years ago in Rio de Janeiro. In contrast, Sprint nextel has a history of producing medal-winning performances.
