New Zealand cyclist Andrews wins women’s sprint gold

PARIS: New Zealand´s Ellesse Andrews blasted to the women´s Olympic sprint title at the Paris velodrome on Sunday to go with her keirin gold medal.

The 21-year-old easily outgunned German world record holder Lea Friedrich 2-0 in the best-of-three final to claim her country´s first sprint gold since it was added to the Olympic programme in 2008.

British world champion Emma Finucane overpowered the Netherlands´ Hetty van de Wouw 2-0 to take the bronze.

Andrews upset Finucane 2-0 in the semi-finals and was always in charge against Friedrich, winning the first race by 0.095 and the second even more comfortably with a 0.624 margin. Canadian defending champion Kelsey Mitchell was eliminated in the quarter-finals, then came eighth in the race-off for the minor places.

Both Andrews and Friedrich have been in sizzling form in Paris, each smashing Mitchell´s world record in qualifying. Andrews achieved the feat first before Friedrich bettered it minutes later with a lightning-fast 10.029secs.