The long day of the Sprinter was dominated by the Dutch: without losing even one match-up, Elis Ligtlee and Jeffrey Hoogland both secured the gold medal for the oldest track racing discipline. The 21-year old Ligtlee defeated the Russian defending champion Anastasia Woinowa in her final match, while the 22-year old Hoogland won against the equally young German Max Niederlag. This was Ligtlee’s second European title after having won the Keirin in 2013, though she did earn three gold medals while racing as a U-23. Hoogland had opened his medal tally the day before with a gold in the Team Sprint.

The top of the leader board was unusually crowded with thirteen riders in the qualifying round under ten seconds; the effect ended up being the elimination of many big favorites: France’s multiple world champion François Pervis was eliminated in the first round, the World bronze medalist Quentin Laffargue in the second, Olympic champion Jason Kenny and the World Championships silver medalist Denis Dmitriev in the quarterfinals. For the women, the German World Champion Kristina Vogel was beaten in the semi-finals by the Russian Woinowa. Then in her next run, Woinowa won, but was disqualified.

Anyone who took the time to watch the sprinter’s matches from start to finish was well rewarded with the high quality of the athleticism and the duels, all of which were only decided on the finish line.