The men's

madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

took place on 7 August 2021 at the

Izu Velodrome The Izu Velodrome is a velodrome in Shizuoka, Japan. It has a 250-metre cycling track and spectator facilities for 3,600 people. It was opened in 2011, and was selected as the venue to host the track cycling events at the 2020 Summer Olympics i ...

. 32 cyclists (16 teams of 2) from 16 nations competed.

Background

This will be the 4th appearance of the event. It was held from 2000 to 2008, then dropped for 2012 and 2016 due to there being no women's equivalent. The event is returning in 2020 with a new women's counterpart. The reigning (2008) Olympic champions are

Juan Curuchet Juan Esteban Curuchet (born 4 February 1965 in Mar del Plata) is a road bicycle racer and track cyclist from Argentina. Curuchet represented Argentina at the Summer Olympics in 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. He won the madison at t ...

and Walter Pérez of Argentina. The reigning (2020) World Champions are

Lasse Norman Hansen Lasse Norman Hansen (born 11 February 1992) is a Danish professional road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . During his track cycling career, he has won five medals (including two golds) at the Summer Olympic Games, ...

and

Michael Mørkøv Michael Mørkøv Christensen (; born 30 April 1985) is a Danish professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is the brother of racing cyclists Jacob and Jesper Mørkøv. Career Born in Kokkedal, Mørkøv started as a t ...

of Denmark. Russia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands are traditionally strong track cycling nations.

Qualification

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) could enter up to 1 team of 2 cyclists in the madison. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The 8 top nations in the team pursuit rankings automatically qualified a team in the Madison. The best 8 NOCs in the madison rankings (not already qualified through the team pursuit) also qualified to enter madison teams. The NOCs qualifying ''directly'' in the madison also earned 1 spot in the omnium. Because qualification was complete by the end of the

2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany from 26 February to 1 March 2020. Schedule 20 events were held: ''All times are local (UTC+1).'' Medal summary Medal table Men Women *Shaded events are no ...

on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Competition format

A madison race is a tag team points race that involves all 16 teams competing at once. One cyclist from each team competes at a time; the two team members can swap at any time by touching (including pushing and handslinging). The distance is 200 laps (50 km). Teams score points in two ways: lapping the field and sprints. A team that gains a lap on the field earns 20 points; one that loses a lap has 20 points deducted. Every 10th lap is a sprint, with the first to finish the lap earning 5 points, second 3 points, third 2 points, and fourth 1 point. The points values are doubled for the final sprint. There is only one round of competition.

Schedule

All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

(

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

)

Results

Whereas the women's race had been a showcase for one team's complete dominance, the men's race was delicately poised between several teams until the closing laps, with all three medalists separated by only three points, and no team able to take a lap in the entire race. Although they won only 3 of the sprints, Denmark's

and

had, with consistent points finishes, sewn up the gold medal before the final sprint for ten points. This left the final sprint between the British pair of

Ethan Hayter Ethan Edward Hayter (born 18 September 1998) is a British racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Hayter started riding at Herne Hill Velodrome in 2012, aged 13. He raced for the VC Londres cycling club from 2012 to 2016, ...

and

Matthew Walls Matthew Thomas Walls (born 20 April 1998) is a British road and track cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Walls won the gold medal in the men's omnium event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Walls was involved in an accident du ...

and the French duo of Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin. The British pair held off all challengers to win silver, claiming the ten points for the final sprint, bringing them level with France on 40 points, but condemning the French to bronze based on finishing position in the final sprint.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Men's Madison Men's Madison Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's madison Men's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics