The women's sprint event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 6 to 8 August 2021 at the Izu Velodrome. 30 cyclists from 18 nations competed. Canadian rider Kelsey Mitchell won gold, with Olena Starikova from Ukraine and Lee Wai-sze from Hong-Kong completing the medal positions.

The medals were presented by Yasuhiro Yamashita, IOC member, Olympian, 1 Gold Medal, Japan; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by David Lappartient, President of the UCI, France.

Background This will be the 9th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since the introduction of women's track cycling in 1988.

The reigning Olympic champion is Kristina Vogel of Germany. The reigning World Champion is Emma Hinze, also of Germany.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 2 qualified cyclists in the women's sprint. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The eight nations that qualify for the team sprint event may enter two cyclists each in the individual sprint (as well as the Keirin). The nations that qualify a cyclist through the Keirin rankings may also enter that cyclist in the sprint. Finally, seven places are allocated through the individual sprint rankings; these places must ensure that each of the five continents are represented. Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition format For the first time since 2000, the sprint competition format is seeing significant changes. The number of main rounds is increasing from 5 to 6 and the number of repechages from 2 to 3. The competition begins, as usual, with a qualifying round of time trials (flying start 200 metres). The top 24 cyclists in the qualifying round (up from 18) qualify for match rounds. In each match round, the cyclists start side by side and must complete 3 laps of the track (750 metres). The last 200 metres are timed. The match rounds are as follows. Round 1 pairs the 24 cyclists into 12 heats; the winner of each advances to round 2 while the loser goes to the first repechage. The first repechage places the 12 cyclists into 4 heats of 3 cyclists each; the winner of each heat rejoins the round 1 winners in advancing to round 2 while the remaining cyclists are eliminated. Round 2 pairs the 16 cyclists into 8 heats; the winner of each advances to the 1/8 finals while the loser goes to the second repechage. The second repechage again has 4 heats, this time of 2 cyclists each; the winner of each rejoins the round 2 winners and advances to the 1/8 finals while the loser of each heat is eliminated. The 1/8 finals pairs the 12 cyclists into 6 heats; the winner of each advances to the quarterfinals while the loser goes to the third repechage. The third repechage has 2 heats of 3 cyclists each; the winner goes to the quarterfinals while all others are eliminated (the classification 9–12 race has been removed). The quarterfinals begins best-two-of-three matches; the 8 cyclists are paired into 4 quarterfinals. The winner of two races in each quarterfinal goes to the semifinals, while the loser is placed in the classification 5–8 race. The semifinals again uses best-two-of-three matches, with the 4 cyclists paired into 2 semifinals. The winner of each semifinal goes to the final, the loser goes to the bronze medal match. The finals round includes the final, bronze medal match, and classification 5–8 race. The final and bronze medal match are one-on-one, best-two-of-three in format; the classification 5–8 race is a single race of 4 cyclists.

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date Time Round 6 August 2021 15:3016:1616:5818:0618:53 Qualifying1/32 finals1/32 finals repechages1/16 finals1/16 finals repechages 7 August 2021 15:3016:1316:39 1/8 finals1/8 finals repechagesQuarterfinals 8 August 2021 10:1811:0611:20 SemifinalsClassification 5–8Finals

Results Qualifying Rank Cyclist Nation Time Behind Notes 1 Lea Friedrich 10.310 , OR 2 Kelsey Mitchell 10.346 +0.036 3 Emma Hinze 10.381 +0.071 4 Mathilde Gros 10.400 +0.090 5 Lauriane Genest 10.460 +0.150 6 Olena Starikova 10.461 +0.151 7 Shanne Braspennincx 10.479 +0.169 8 Katy Marchant 10.495 +0.185 9 Lee Wai-sze 10.538 +0.228 10 Zhong Tianshi 10.559 +0.249 11 Ellesse Andrews 10.563 +0.253 12 Daria Shmeleva 10.667 +0.357 13 Anastasia Voynova 10.669 +0.359 14 Kaarle McCulloch 10.679 +0.369 15 Daniela Gaxiola 10.682 +0.372 16 Simona Krupeckaitė 10.706 +0.396 17 Yuka Kobayashi 10.711 +0.401 18 Bao Shanju 10.723 +0.413 19 Yuli Verdugo 10.818 +0.508 20 Madalyn Godby 10.869 +0.559 21 Lee Hye-jin 10.904 +0.594 22 Charlene du Preez 10.974 +0.664 23 Lyubov Basova 10.981 +0.671 24 Miglė Marozaitė 11.031 +0.721 25Urszula Łoś 11.047 +0.737 26Marlena Karwacka 11.083 +0.773 27Kirstie James 11.116 +0.806 28Jessica Lee 11.232 +0.922 29Coralie Demay 11.849 +1.539 Laurine van Riessen

1/32 finals Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Lea Friedrich X 1 2 Miglė Marozaitė +0.370 2 1 Kelsey Mitchell X 2 2 Lyubov Basova +0.535 3 1 Emma Hinze X 3 2 Charlene du Preez +0.415 4 1 Mathilde Gros X 4 2 Lee Hye-jin +0.797 5 1 Lauriane Genest X 5 2 Madalyn Godby +0.121 6 1 Olena Starikova X 6 2 Yuli Verdugo +0.107 7 1 Shanne Braspennincx X 7 2 Bao Shanju +0.152 8 1 Katy Marchant X 8 2 Yuka Kobayashi +0.612 9 1 Lee Wai-sze X 9 2 Simona Krupeckaitė +0.102 10 1 Zhong Tianshi X 10 2 Daniela Gaxiola +0.087 11 1 Ellesse Andrews X 11 2 Kaarle McCulloch +0.255 12 1 Anastasia Voynova X 12 2 Daria Shmeleva +0.056

1/32 finals repechages Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Yuka Kobayashi X 1 2 Simona Krupeckaitė +0.052 1 3 Miglė Marozaitė +0.265 2 1 Bao Shanju X 2 2 Daniela Gaxiola +0.027 2 3 Lyubov Basova +0.602 3 1 Kaarle McCulloch X 3 2 Yuli Verdugo +0.041 3 3 Charlene du Preez +0.354 4 1 Madalyn Godby X 4 2 Lee Hye-jin +0.054 4 3 Daria Shmeleva +0.057

1/16 finals Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Lea Friedrich X 1 2 Madalyn Godby +0.391 2 1 Kelsey Mitchell X 2 2 Kaarle McCulloch +0.135 3 1 Emma Hinze X 3 2 Bao Shanju +0.201 4 1 Mathilde Gros X 4 2 Yuka Kobayashi +0.485 5 1 Lauriane Genest X 5 2 Anastasia Voynova +0.035 6 1 Olena Starikova X 6 2 Ellesse Andrews +0.026 7 1 Shanne Braspennincx X 7 2 Zhong Tianshi +0.030 8 1 Katy Marchant X 8 2 Lee Wai-sze +0.025

1/16 finals repechages Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Lee Wai-sze X 1 2 Madalyn Godby +0.168 2 1 Zhong Tianshi X 2 2 Kaarle McCulloch +0.117 3 1 Ellesse Andrews X 3 2 Bao Shanju +0.234 4 1 Anastasia Voynova X 4 2 Yuka Kobayashi +0.275

1/8 finals Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Lea Friedrich X 1 2 Anastasia Voynova +0.135 2 1 Kelsey Mitchell X 2 2 Ellesse Andrews +0.005 3 1 Emma Hinze X 3 2 Zhong Tianshi +0.359 4 1 Lee Wai-sze X 4 2 Mathilde Gros +0.019 5 1 Katy Marchant X 5 2 Lauriane Genest +0.179 6 1 Shanne Braspennincx X 6 2 Olena Starikova +0.045

1/8 finals repechages Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Gap Notes 1 1 Lauriane Genest X 1 2 Mathilde Gros +0.001 1 3 Anastasia Voynova +0.095 2 1 Olena Starikova X 2 2 Ellesse Andrews +0.007 2 3 Zhong Tianshi +0.056

Quarterfinals Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Decider () Notes 1 1 Olena Starikova X +0.018 X 1 2 Lea Friedrich +0.001 X +0.019 2 1 Kelsey Mitchell X X 2 2 Lauriane Genest +0.041 +0.058 3 1 Emma Hinze X X 3 2 Shanne Braspennincx +0.098 +0.074 4 1 Lee Wai-sze X X 4 2 Katy Marchant +0.027 +0.036

Classification 5–8 Rank Cyclist Nation Gap 5 Lea Friedrich 6 Katy Marchant +0.099 7 Shanne Braspennincx +0.126 8 Lauriane Genest +0.216

Semifinals Heat Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Decider () Notes 1 1 Olena Starikova X X 1 2 Lee Wai-sze +0.040 +0.128 2 1 Kelsey Mitchell X +0.285 X 2 2 Emma Hinze +0.101 X +0.176

Finals Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Decider ()Gold medal final Kelsey Mitchell X X Olena Starikova +0.061 +0.064 Bronze medal final Lee Wai-sze X X 4 Emma Hinze +0.964 +0.233

References