GB's Emma Finucane takes bronze in keirin at Paris Olympic, NZ's Ellesse Andrews takes gold

Great Britain's Emma Finucane took bronze in the women's keirin at the Paris Olympics on Thursday evening, as the Welsh rider was pipped to gold by Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) and Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands).

The 21-year-old, already an Olympic gold medallist in the team sprint, did not have the legs to round Andrews, the world champion in the event, and was overtaken by Van de Wouw at the death.

Her team sprint colleague, Katy Marchant, finished fourth in the same event. 

Finucane's bronze, GB's 51st of the games, is the second for the young rider on her Olympic debut. She had qualified for the final by finishing second in the quarter finals, and then third in the semis, only just scraping through.

Andrews led from the front in the final, with the five other riders unable to challenge her. As Finuncane tried to challenge at the end of the two-and-a-half laps of racing, Van de Wouw rounded her. Marchant, meanwhile, beat Emma Hinze (Germany) and Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez (Mexico) into fourth.

"Going up in that final and scraping through the semi, I knew I had to find something in my legs that I hadn’t seen before," Finucane told the BBC.

"Ellesse [Andrews] is world champion, she has demonstrated today that she is so strong. All of the other girls in that final, we’re the strongest girls in the world that’s why we are in the Olympic final. And to even be there next to one of my best friends Katy [Marchant] was such a ‘pinch me’ moment.

"To get a bronze medal, it literally feels like gold to me because I left everything out there on the track. If you told me a year ago I’d be coming to the Olympics and getting a gold in track sprint and then bronze in keirin, I would’ve been like ‘no way’ but here I am."

Benjamin Thomas wins men's omnium

Meanwhile, Benjamin Thomas of France overcame a crash in the points race to hang onto gold, France's first on the track at their home Olympics. The Frenchman won the scratch race, finished 11th in the tempo race, then came second in the elimination event, meaning he went into the final points race as the favourite.

The points race swung multiple ways, but Thomas was always ready to take control, even when he crashed late on. Able to remount, the 28-year-old quickly regained the lead in the race, and despite a late attempt from Portugal's Iúri Leitão, could not be prevented from winning. Fabio van den Bossche of Belgium held off a surge from Albert Torres to take bronze. Leitão's medal was Portugal's first ever track accolade.

The tempo race had been won by Van den Bossche, before the elimination race was taken by Ethan Hayter of Great Britain, which suggested a podium challenge was on from the Londoner. However, after failing to make a significant impact in the final event, Hayter finished eighth overall.

GB's Jack Carlin through to sprint semi-final

There was almost an upset in the men's sprint quarter-finals, as it briefly looked like GB's Hamish Turnbull might knock out a member of the dominant Dutch sprint squad, Jeffrey Hoogland. However, the latter overcame a loss in the first race to make it through to the semis.

In heat four, GB's Jack Carlin was also up against it after Kaiya Ota of Japan looked like he had taken an unassailable lead in the best-of-three event, however, Ota was relegated in the second race, and Carlin pipped him in the final. It means the Scottish sprinter is through to the semi-finals.

Through with the Scot was Hoogland, Dutch world champion Harrie Lavreysen, and Australia's Matthew Richardson. Carlin will go up against the might of Lavreysen in the first heat on Friday afternoon.