Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's keirin

This was the 6th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since its introduction in 2000.

The reigning Olympic champion was Jason Kenny of Great Britain; Great Britain had won three consecutive titles in the event (Chris Hoy was the winner in 2008 and 2012). The reigning (2020) World Champion was Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands.

Russia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands were traditionally strong track cycling nations. A preview at Olympics.com also identified Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and 2017 World Champion, as a significant contender.^[3]

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 2 qualified cyclists in the men's Keirin. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The eight nations that qualify for the team sprint event may enter two cyclists each in the Keirin (as well as the individual sprint). The nations that qualify a cyclist through the individual sprint rankings may also enter that cyclist in the Keirin. Finally, seven places are allocated through the Keirin rankings.^[2] Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keirin races involve up to 7 cyclists each (though the 2020 format has no races with more than 6). The cyclists follow a pace motorcycle for 3 laps (750 m); the motorcycle then pulls away and the cyclists race for another 3 laps. These distances are changed from the 2016 Games, shortening the paced section from 5.5 laps and lengthening the unpaced sprint from 2.5 laps. The motorcycle starts at 30 km/h and increases speed to 50 km/h before it pulls off.

The tournament consists of four main rounds (up from three in 2016) and a repechage:^[4][5]

• First round: Five heats of 6 cyclists each. The top 2 cyclists in each heat (10 total) advance to the second round; all others (20 cyclists) go to the repechage.
• Repechage: Four heats of 5 cyclists each. The top 2 cyclists in each heat (8 total) rejoin the first-round winners in the second round. The other 12 cyclists are eliminated.
• Second round: Three heats of 6 cyclists each. The top 4 cyclists in each heat (12 total) advance to the semifinals. The remaining 6 cyclists are eliminated.
• Semifinals: Two heats of 6 cyclists each. The top 3 cyclists in each semifinal (6 total) advance to Final A; the bottom 3 cyclists from each semifinal go to Final B, out of medal contention.
• Finals: Two finals. Final A consists of the top 6 cyclists, awarding medals and 4th through 6th place. Final B ranks the next 6 cyclists from 7th to 12th.

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)^[6]

First round

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Jack Carlin	Great Britain		QF
2	Matthew Richardson	Australia	+0.070	QF
3	Matthijs Büchli	Netherlands	REL	R
	Hugo Barrette	Canada	DNF	R
	Sergey Ponomaryov	Kazakhstan	DNF	R
	Shah Firdaus Sahrom	Malaysia	DNF	R

Heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Azizulhasni Awang	Malaysia		QF
2	Nicholas Paul	Trinidad and Tobago	+0.075	QF
3	Patryk Rajkowski	Poland	+0.104	R
4	Stefan Bötticher	Germany	+0.115	R
5	Jean Spies	South Africa	+0.739	R
6	Sébastien Vigier	France	+0.884	R

Heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Yudai Nitta	Japan		QF
2	Denis Dmitriev	ROC	+0.004	QF
3	Matthew Glaetzer	Australia	+0.093	R
4	Xu Chao	China	+0.240	R
5	Harrie Lavreysen	Netherlands	+0.256	R
6	Mateusz Rudyk	Poland	+0.974	R

Heat 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Yuta Wakimoto	Japan		QF
2	Callum Saunders	New Zealand	+0.089	QF
3	Kevin Quintero	Colombia	+0.096	R
4	Tomáš Bábek	Czech Republic	+0.228	R
5	Nick Wammes	Canada	+0.292	R
6	Jair Tjon En Fa	Suriname	+0.396	R

Repechages

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Jason Kenny	Great Britain		QF
2	Stefan Bötticher	Germany	+0.363	QF
3	Matthijs Büchli	Netherlands	+0.441
4	Mateusz Rudyk	Poland	+0.480
5	Nick Wammes	Canada	+0.564

Heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Harrie Lavreysen	Netherlands		QF
2	Jair Tjon En Fa	Suriname	+0.578	QF
3	Sam Webster	New Zealand	+0.580
4	Hugo Barrette	Canada	+0.738
5	Patryk Rajkowski	Poland	+1.616

Heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Matthew Glaetzer	Australia		QF
2	Kevin Quintero	Colombia	+0.069	QF
3	Sergey Ponomaryov	Kazakhstan	+0.124
4	Ivan Gladyshev	ROC	+0.675
5	Jean Spies	South Africa	+0.760

Quarterfinals

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Nicholas Paul	Trinidad and Tobago		SF
2	Jack Carlin	Great Britain	+0.503	SF
3	Jair Tjon En Fa	Suriname	+0.602	SF
4	Maximilian Levy	Germany	+0.667	SF
5	Callum Saunders	New Zealand	+0.723
6	Shah Firdaus Sahrom	Malaysia	+1.204

Heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Yuta Wakimoto	Japan		SF
2	Azizulhasni Awang	Malaysia	+0.039	SF
3	Kwesi Browne	Trinidad and Tobago	+0.098	SF
4	Matthew Glaetzer	Australia	+0.104	SF
5	Stefan Bötticher	Germany	+0.192
6	Denis Dmitriev	ROC	+0.236

Semifinals

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
1	Azizulhasni Awang	Malaysia		FA
2	Maximilian Levy	Germany	+0.035	FA
3	Harrie Lavreysen	Netherlands	+0.073	FA
4	Rayan Helal	France	+0.497	FB
5	Yuta Wakimoto	Japan	+0.775	FB
	Nicholas Paul	Trinidad and Tobago	DSQ

Finals

Final B

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Gap	Notes
7	Yuta Wakimoto	Japan
8	Jack Carlin	Great Britain	+0.097
9	Kwesi Browne	Trinidad and Tobago	+0.203
10	Rayan Helal	France	+0.251
11	Kevin Quintero	Colombia	+0.314

• Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's keirin
• Keirin