Ellesse Andrews wins gold in women’s keirin final

World champion and now Olympic champion. Ellesse Andrews became the second New Zealander to claim Olympics gold at the track with a stunning effort to win the keirin final in Paris this morning.

Andrews powered home, taking the lead with two laps left and held strong to join Sarah Ulmer as an Olympic gold medallist at the velodrome. It is Andrews’ third Olympic medal after taking silver in the keirin three years ago, along with the team sprint silver earlier in the week.

Hetty van de Wouw of Netherlands took the silver and Great Britain’s Emma Finucane the bronze.

Talking to Sky Sport alongside her coach and father Jon, she said it was still soaking in.

“It’s surreal. I tend to take a while to let things soak in. I’m very sore, very hot, very puffed.”

“I like to not get too overwhelmed or over-worked before the race. I was just thinking about the simple things and for me it was just another round of keirin. I just needed to qualify first this time, hopefully, and I managed to cross the line first.”

“On a track like this it’s great to be number one at the bell. I remember seeing Finucane right on my hip coming into the bell and I knew I just needed to accelerate and keep going.”

“I didn’t even see the finish,” her father Jon told Sky Sport.

”I saw her come around the bend and thought, there’s no way you’re being beaten from there. So I just turned and ran for the track.”

- Written by the NZ Herald and republished here with permission.