A horrific incident occurred during one of the final stages of the cycling event at the 2024 Olympic Games, causing several riders to derail.
During the women’s keirin quarterfinals on Thursday, Steffi van der Peet of the Netherlands fell off her bike and crashed into the wheel of Belgian rider Nikki de Glendael, who tried to steer to stabilize herself but also fell.
At the same time, China’s Yuan Liying also fell and was nearly hit by the rear wheel of DeGlendale’s bike.
The horrifying scenes also showed pieces of the bike flying into the air and towards van der Piet, causing him to slide to the side of the track.
Thankfully, after being examined by medical professionals on-site, all three cyclists were deemed OK.
What made the moment even more harrowing was that the average speed of the three bikers in Heat 1 was 65.017 kilometers per hour, or more than 40 miles per hour.
2024 Paris Olympics
Despite this misfortune, both De Grendel and Van der Piet advanced to the semi-finals, finishing with times of +0.070 and +0.127 respectively.
The pair were joined by Germany’s Lee Friedrich and New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews.
All four raced back out of the National Velodrome within the hour.
Andrews was the only one from her group to qualify for gold, along with Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez of Mexico, Emma Finucan of Great Britain, Hettie van de Wouw of the Netherlands, Katie Marchant of Great Britain and Emma Hinze of Germany.
Finishing the race less than an hour after the tragic accident, van der Piet qualified fourth with a time of +0.161, just 0.004 seconds behind gold medal contender Finucane, while de Glendael also qualified fourth with a time of +0.114.
In the final gold medal contest, Andrews won gold, van de Wouw won silver and Finucane won bronze.
The win marked improvement for Andrews, who won silver in the keirin final at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
