The Netherlands has won its fair share of cycling medals in Rio and with a surprise showing at the women’s keirin finals, Elis Ligtlee has added one more. Ligtlee took an early lead and never surrendered it to some of the world’s fastest riders.
Ligtlee started racing early, but not on the track. She started racing BMX at age 7 and won a junior world championship in BMX at 9. The Netherlands has four cycling medals thus far in Rio, but Ligtlee’s is the first on the track.
Ligtlee finished just ahead of heavy favorites Rebecca James from Great Britain and Australia’s Anna Meares, who took home the silver and bronze respectively. Defending champion and heavy favorite Kristina Vogel was in second place during the final lap, but ended up finishing dead last.