Ellese Andrews gave New Zealand the gold medal by finishing top of the keirin, for which she had deservedly qualified as one of the favourites. Meanwhile, versatile French cyclist Benjamin Thomas, a member of the international road cycling peloton and an accomplished track cyclist, took gold in the attractive 100-lap omnium.

Ellese Andrews (New Zealand) is the new Olympic keirin champion. The New Zealander rode a perfect final. She took the lead from the start, maintained the pace and rode at over 67 kilometres per hour to take gold. Silver went to Hetty Van de Wouw of the Netherlands, who overtook Britain's Emma Finucane in the final metres.

Andrews followed in the cycling tradition of her father, who was also an Olympic track cyclist. Her mother was a mountain biker. But Ellese Andrews opted for the velodrome, and she was successful. She is a four-time junior world champion and her gold medal on Thursday adds to the unexpected silver she won as a member of the New Zealand team in the sprint. Britain's Katy Marchant was fourth and Germany's Emma Hinze fifth. Daniela Gaxiola of Italy was sixth.

Medals were up for grabs in the men's omnium on Thursday. Benjamin Thomas gave France another gold medal in cycling. They have already won two in the road race and three in the BMX omnium. He rode a perfect race, knowing how to take his place and scoring 164 points to Leitao's 153 and Bossche's 131.

He fulfilled the predictions that placed him among the medal contenders with his ability to stay in the leading positions without dropping points and his power in the final metres.

Spain's Albert Torres was fourth and New Zealand's Aaron Gate was fifth. Another favourite, Britain's Ethan Hayter, who had already won silver in the team sprint, could only manage eighth place. 

Ninth was Italy's Elia Viviani, one of the fastest riders in the international road peloton, European champion and stage winner in the Vuelta. He needed a re-run to get into the final but was unable to fight for the medals. 22 riders finished the race, with Fernando Gaviria, another leading road rider, finishing 17th.

Thursday's race started at 17:00 at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome. The keirin and omnium eliminations were the first moments of competition. It was a day without any major surprises and the favourites lived up to their medal predictions. At the stroke of mid-afternoon, the final of the women's keirin and the spectacular scoring final took place. There were some exciting moments.