Aussie cyclist Matthew Glaetzer has pulled a “Bradbury” to win bronze in the men’s Keirin on Sunday night.
The speed demon took his second medal of the Paris Olympics when he dodged some last-corner carnage to reach the line in third position.
Aussie Matthew Richardson won silver after an epic battle with Dutch star Harrie Lavreysen, who surged to the line to win by just 0.056 seconds.
Glaetzer took the bronze when Britain’s Jack Carlin, Japan’s Shinji Nakano and Malaysia’s Muhammad Shah Firdus Sahrom wiped each other out jostling in the desperate final push before the line.
Glaetzer’s face said it all as he crossed the line in bewilderment.
Internet sleuths have highlighted vision on the TV broadcast that showed Glaetzer appearing to mouth something to himself.
The cameras appeared to catch Glaetzer sledging himself, saying: “I just did a Bradbury”.
Glaetzer’s fans are loving the viral footage and his comment was a perfect way to sum it up.
He said he was fully aware that staying at the back gave him a chance to take advantage of any drama in front of him.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t get caught out and ride a race that I was proud of,” he said of taking the lead early in the race.
“In the end, I stayed on my bike, dodged the chaos, crossed the line and felt blessed to get an individual medal.
“You never know what will happen in a Keirin Olympic final. They are always crazy. That was an example of what could happen in a Keirin. Literally anything. So, to come away from my final Olympics, with an individual medal.
“I knew it was possible but things had to fall my way and it literally did today.”
There was no stopping Lavreysen.
It was the third gold of the Games for the irrepressible Lavreysen after claiming the sprint and team sprint titles.
The win snapped a long British stranglehold that saw Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny win the last four golds.
In a shock, Colombia’s reigning world champion Kevin Quintero was eliminated in the quarter-finals, as was Dutch former world silver medallist Jeffrey Hoogland.
Invented in Japan in 1948, the keirin involves riders lurking behind a motorised pacemaker before exploding in a sprint to the line over the last three laps.
Source Agencies
