Paris 2024: Kelland O'Brien and Sam Welsford finish 12th in Madison

Kelland O'Brien and Sam Welsford have finished an action-packed Madison in 12th at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Australian pair started the 200-lap race brightly at Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and were positioned in second alongside Spain and eventual gold medallists Portugal on eight points with 140 laps remaining.

However, the hot start soon began to take its toll on O'Brien and Welsford, who struggled to follow the constant barrage of attacks made by nations seeking to gain a lap.

In the end, the battle of Madison attrition won out over the Australians, with the pair only able to add a further three points to their total over the final 140 laps, while losing three laps and subsequently 60 points.

"It was bloody hard. I don't know what the average speed was but it felt bloody quick," O'Brien said.

"Obviously we've had a big program this week and with all the crashes in the backend of that race you could see the fatigue on the riders who had multiple events week. A lot of people were seeing stars.

"Not the result we were after but that's not going to overshadow anything we've done this week."

Welsford added that it's always hard to predict how a Madison will unfold at the top level.

"If you look at the last Olympic Madison, there was no laps even taken, or at worlds last year for example as well," Welsford said.

"You've just got to go out there and throw everything at it.

"I think we did well at the start to put ourselves in the race which was a goal of ourselves, just to make sure we were in the mix and not just playing catch-up.

"When the laps started going we weren't in too bad of a position but it started to take its toll and I think I paid for the sprints I did early in the race a bit, but we wanted to just come off the track and make sure we left nothing out there for our last race here.

"We had nothing to lose today. We've come away (from Paris) with a world record and a gold medal.

"I couldn't ask for a better partner; Kell did a lot of work for me and put me on his shoulders a few times there, it's always a pleasure to hold hands with him."

The Madison brings an end to Paris 2024 for the pair, who were part of Australia’s gold medal-winning team pursuit that also broke the world record with Conor Leahy and Oliver Bleddyn earlier in the week.

They said they had received messages of congratulations from members of the last Australian team to win Olympic gold in the event at Athens 2004.

“It’s really cool to have that legacy rolling on and shows how many people watch and support us throughout the years. And you don’t realise how monumental the result was, for us it was 20 years since the last win so to be a part of that is really special and no one can take that away from us," Welsford said.

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Feature picture: Sebastien Bozon/Getty Images