Two riders crashed “very hard” during this morning’s men’s keirin heat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The crash took place when the riders in the heat were packed together in the velodrome, with Team GB’s Jack Carlin side-by-side with Malaysian rider M.S.F Sahrom. As the pack broke apart, the Malaysian rider hit the deck, which also threw a Kazakhstan rider Sergey Ponomaryov off his bike as well.
The heavy fall left the Malaysian rider’s skin suit “in absolute tatters” according to the BBC commentator.
The gun immediately went to signal a void race after the crash.
The BBC’s Jill Douglas said: “There is always drama in the velodrome we have had the most amazing tournament here
“In that kerin race, we saw two riders go down very hard.”
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She added: “The Malaysian rider’s skinsuit is in absolute tatters so he had a very heavy fall as did the Kazakhstan rider.”
“The four riders who finished the heat will ride again and the two riders who crashed will go into the repechage.”
Commenting on it later, BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker said: “Jack Carlin went in heat number two, this is the crash that happened which Jack was involved in.”
Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy added: “This was just unfortunate for the Malaysian. He came a little too close to Jack, and caught his shoulder.
“That unsettled Jack, who lost his balance and went into him.
“Jack wasn’t pushing him out of the way, he was just trying to stay up right.
“That took out the Malaysian and then the Kazakhstan rider too, with a really nasty fall.
“That could be a collarbone issue or concussion possibly too for the Kazakhstan rider.”
In the later re-race of the heat, Jack Carlin was involved in another incident when Canada’s Hugo Barrette went down after clipping the Briton.
Carlin ended up finishing first in the heat, making it into the quarter-final.
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