Olympic events: What is keirin?

Women’s keirin is a new event this Olympics, and Canada is competing in the men’s and women’s events.

Still, many people are unfamiliar with this niche cycling competition.

Keirin is a track cycling event, where a group of cyclists race eight laps around an oval track. It was developed in Japan and first became a men’s Olympic event at Sydney in 2000.

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One of the main differences between keirin and other track cycling competitions is how it starts. The starting positions are drawn by lot. For the first few laps, cyclists must line up and stay behind a pacer motorbike. When there are 2.5 laps left, the pacer leaves the track, and the riders take off.

They then sprint quickly and aggressively to the finish, everyone trying to get ahead of the pack. The first person to cross the finish line wins.

Canadian keirin competitors this Olympics are Monique Sullivan from Calgary, and Joseph Veloce of Fonthill, Ontario.