Baker, Manly ‘disappointed’ with 9th in the Madison

Australia’s Georgia Baker and Alexandra Manly said they didn’t have the legs for a higher result, finishing ninth in a fast edition of the women’s Madison at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

After winning silver at last year’s World Championships, hopes were high for the Aussie pairing. But the podium proved out of reach in the breathless race at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines tonight (Paris time).

Great Britain and home favourites France started on the front foot, banking points in the first sprints as the 120-lap race began at breakneck speed.

After missing a change early, Baker and Manly took their first point with 80 laps to go, then another three points with 60 to go, moving them to seventh on the leaderboard.

Soon after, the Netherlands bolted into first place by taking a lap, while the Australians looked in difficulty at the back of the bunch.

Photo: Tim de Waele / Getty Images

Baker and Manly fought to regain positions while, up front, the Italian pair of Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni went on the attack in search of a lap. That split the bunch, with Australia caught in the second group.

Italy completed their lap gain and rocketed into the lead, spurring a counterattack from Belgium. Australia moved towards the pointy end of the bunch, taking two points with 20 to go, but that would be their last scoring moment in this Madison.

The field splintered before the final sprint as Great Britain surged to take maximum points and the silver medal, while Italy held on for gold. The Netherlands completed the podium.

“Early on, we got our change split. We tried to recover a bit and come back at it, but we never really found the legs again,” Manly said.

“It didn’t quite turn out the way we wanted to, but we did the best we could and we kept fighting all the way until the end.

“That’s the fastest Madison they’ve ever had, so it was pretty crazy. The speed is so high and you don’t really get a chance to recover, but we did what we could.”

Baker said, “The atmosphere here in the velodrome here is amazing, particularly with the cycling team – we’ve had some really great results in the team, it’s been really inspiring for us.

“We came out here today really motivated, thinking that definitely we could be on that podium, so definitely we are a bit disappointed.”

Baker will return to action in the women’s omnium on Sunday.

Feature photo by Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images