The men's omnium event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 5 August 2021 at the Izu Velodrome. 20 cyclists from 20 nations competed.
Background This was the 3rd appearance of the event, which was introduced in 2012.
The previous reigning Olympic champion was Elia Viviani of Italy. The reigning (2020) World Champion was Benjamin Thomas of France.
France, Italy, Russia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands are traditionally strong track cycling nations.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 1 cyclist in the omnium. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The best 8 NOCs in the madison rankings (not already qualified through the team pursuit) directly qualified to enter madison teams as well as earning 1 quota place in the omnium. There were another 12 places in the omnium available based on the omnium rankings; NOCs qualified through the madison were not eligible. Each continent was guaranteed at least one place in the omnium. 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
An omnium is a multiple-race event. The current event features four different types of races. The format has changed significantly from 2016, with three of the six race types dropped and one replacement added. The omnium also moved from a two-day format in prior Games to a one-day format in 2020. The winner of the omnium is the cyclist who obtains the most points through the four races. The winner of each of the first three races earns 40 points, the second-place cyclist earns 38, the third-place rider 36, and so forth. The final race has special scoring rules. The races in the omnium are:
Scratch race: Mass start race; first to finish is the winner. Distance is 10 km (40 laps). Tempo race: The new race for 2020. The distance is 10 km (40 laps). After the first 5 laps, the winner of each lap earns 1 point. Lapping the field earns 20 points. The winner of the race is the cyclist with the most points (the points earned within the tempo race do not count for the omnium total; they are used only to place cyclists for the race). Elimination race: Every 2 laps, the last-place cyclist is eliminated. Points race: A 25 km (100 lap) points race, with points earned for sprints (5/3/2/1, every 10 laps with double points for final sprint) and for lapping the field (20 points).
There is only one round of competition.
Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
Date Time Round 5 August 2021 15:3016:2717:0717:55 Scratch raceTempo raceElimination racePoints race
Results Scratch race Rank Cyclist Nation Laps down Event points 1 Matthew Walls 40 2 Benjamin Thomas 38 3 Jan-Willem van Schip 36 4 Artyom Zakharov 34 5 Niklas Larsen 32 6 Sam Welsford –1 30 7 Campbell Stewart –1 28 8 Eiya Hashimoto –1 26 9 Théry Schir –1 24 10 Gavin Hoover –1 22 11 Kenny De Ketele –1 20 12 Roger Kluge –1 18 13 Elia Viviani –1 16 14 Szymon Sajnok –1 14 15 Albert Torres –1 12 16 Mark Downey –1 10 17 Christos Volikakis –1 8 18 Yauheni Karaliok –1 6 19 Andreas Müller –1 4 20 David Maree –2 2
Tempo race Rank Name Nation Race points Event points 1 Jan-Willem van Schip 30 40 2 Benjamin Thomas 23 38 3 Matthew Walls 23 36 4 Théry Schir 23 34 5 Gavin Hoover 22 32 6 Niklas Larsen 22 30 7 Kenny De Ketele 21 28 8 Elia Viviani 21 26 9 Szymon Sajnok 21 24 10 Albert Torres 21 22 11 Roger Kluge 3 20 12 Campbell Stewart 2 18 13 Sam Welsford 1 16 14 Yauheni Karaliok 1 14 15 Artyom Zakharov 1 12 16 Eiya Hashimoto 1 10 17 Christos Volikakis 0 8 18 David Maree 0 6 19 Mark Downey –20 4 20 Andreas Müller –20 2
Elimination race Rank Name Nation Event points 1 Elia Viviani 40 2 Matthew Walls 38 3 Théry Schir 36 4 Jan-Willem van Schip 34 5 Campbell Stewart 32 6 Benjamin Thomas 30 7 Albert Torres 28 8 Niklas Larsen 26 9 Sam Welsford 24 10 Kenny De Ketele 22 11 Gavin Hoover 20 12 Eiya Hashimoto 18 13 Artyom Zakharov 16 14 Christos Volikakis 14 15 David Maree 12 16 Szymon Sajnok 10 17 Roger Kluge 8 18 Yauheni Karaliok 6 19 Mark Downey 4 20 Andreas Müller 2
Points race and final standings Rank Name Nation Subtotal Sprint points Lap points Finish order Total points Matthew Walls 40 36 38 114 19 20 2 153 Campbell Stewart 28 18 32 78 11 40 17 129 Elia Viviani 16 26 40 82 22 20 4 124 4 Benjamin Thomas 38 38 30 106 12 0 19 118 5 Niklas Larsen 32 30 26 88 5 20 13 113 6 Jan-Willem van Schip 36 40 34 110 2 0 7 112 7 Théry Schir 24 34 36 94 15 0 1 109 8 Gavin Hoover 22 32 20 74 5 20 8 99 9 Roger Kluge 18 20 8 46 5 40 12 91 10 Albert Torres 12 22 28 62 2 20 11 84 11 Sam Welsford 30 16 24 70 9 0 3 79 12 Yauheni Karaliok 6 14 6 26 10 40 10 76 13 Kenny De Ketele 20 28 22 70 0 0 6 70 14 Artyom Zakharov 34 12 16 62 0 0 15 62 15 Eiya Hashimoto 26 10 18 54 0 0 5 54 16 Szymon Sajnok 14 24 10 48 0 0 14 48 17 Mark Downey 10 4 4 18 0 0 9 18 18 Andreas Müller 4 2 2 8 0 0 16 8 19 David Maree 2 6 12 20 3 18 Christos Volikakis 8 8 14 30 1
References