British duo Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls take SILVER in the madison following stunning sprint finish that saw them leapfrog France in final few laps to finish second to Denmark… before excited Hayter drops the F-bomb live on TV
- Great Britain collected their sixth medal of the Tokyo Olympics in the velodrome
- Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls took silver following strong finish in the madison
- Having clung on to bronze for much of the race it looked like they could miss out
- But superb sprint in the final 10 laps saw them hold off Belgium and beat France
- Denmark won the 200-lap race by three points from the British pair
British duo Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls produced a stunning finish to win silver in a thrilling Madison.
Having clung on to the bronze medal position for much of the 200-lap race, Hayter and Walls turned the final stretch into a time trial to leapfrog France into second.
But they couldn’t quite match the game plan and stamina of Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov, who added Olympic gold to their world title as France took bronze.
British duo Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls took silver in the madison at the Izu Velodrome
The British pair (yellow helmets) launched a late sprint finish to leapfrog France into second
Walls said: ‘I was just cooked about half way but we managed to find some gas at the end to finish it off. I gave everything I had.’
Hayter accidentally dropped the f-bomb live on BBC television in his post-race interview before quickly correcting himself.
‘We sat out on the front to try and get a bit of a head start in the early sprints. But my legs started to go first, in the f**king, I mean flipping, first 100 laps or so.
‘I started to suffer, then Matt started to suffer. But then we had a good run and finished with a flourish to almost win.’
WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IN BELOW TWEET
There was a danger that Belgium would kick the British pair off the podium as the race entered its final 10 laps but they dug deep into the energy reserves to launch a counter that not only killed off the Belgian challenge but beat France too.
They finished level on 40 points with the French pair of Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin and three points shy of the Danes.
It was the sixth medal won by Britain in the velodrome – two golds, three silver and one bronze – with only the Dutch ahead in terms of wins.
More to follow.