SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France- - Harrie Lavreysen cemented his status as the king of men's track cycling with the Dutchman completing a golden hat-trick as the curtain came down on seven days of fast and furious racing at the Olympic velodrome on Sunday. The 27-year-old had already emulated his sprint and team sprint titles from Tokyo but this time the man nicknamed The Beast went one better as he pedalled to victory in the keirin as well. With an army of orange-clad Dutch fans roaring him on, he poured on the power as the bell rang for the final lap and held off Australia's Matthew Richardson. "It's incredible, this was my biggest dream to go for gold three times," Lavreysen, who cloaked himself in a Dutch flag before kissing the wooden boards, said of his feat. "I felt really strong the full week. This morning, I thought, 'It is possible' - but I needed to ride the perfect final, and I was really close (to perfect) until the end." Lavreysen was not the only rider to add to their gold collection on a frenetic final day of action. Ellesse Andrews continued re-writing New Zealand cycling history as she became the nation's first Olympic track sprint gold medallist, adding to her gold in the keirin. American Jennifer Valente retained her Olympic omnium title, having also been part of the U.S. team pursuit triumph. Lavreysen's heroics meant the Netherlands finished top of the track cycling medals table in terms of golds won with three, followed by New Zealand and the United States with two apiece. Britain, for so long the dominant force on the boards, won the most medals, eight, but only one gold -- the lowest number since they also managed one in Sydney in 2000. Lavreysen missed out on a hat-trick in Tokyo when he could only finish third in the keirin. When he qualified behind Richardson in the first semi-final on Sunday, some of his fans might have feared history would repeat itself. BUSINESS AS USUAL Come the final, however, it was business as usual for the former BMX rider as he emulated British sprint greats Chris Hoy (2008) and Jason Kenny (2016) by winning all three sprint golds on offer at a single Games. He is also the first male Dutch athlete to win five Olympic golds with only speed skater Ireen Wust (6) ahead of him. Lavreysen's hat-trick moment was overshadowed by crash involving Malaysia's Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Japan's Shinji Nakano and Britain's Jack Carlin, who were all sent tumbling across the track, although all walked away. Australian Matthew Glaetzer grabbed the bronze. If Lavreysen has dominated the men's events, New Zealand's Andrews reigned supreme in the women's. She comfortably beat Britain's world champion Emma Finucane in the semi-final and then outclassed German favourite Lea Freidrich in the final -- winning both matches 2-0. "It's been a massive week, and I'm just so proud of how I've managed to carry myself to the end of the competition," Andrew, whose keirin gold on Thursday was the first Olympics track title in 20 years for New Zealand, said. Finucane beat Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw for bronze -- the 21-year-old becoming the first British woman to win three medals at one Games since Mary Bignal-Rand in 1964. "I left my heart out on the track," Finucane, who powered Britain to its only gold in the team sprint, said. Valente was dominant across the multi-discipline omnium, winning the scratch and elimination races and having a comfortable cushion ahead of the points race. "I don't think an omnium race is ever under control, a lot of things can happen," the 29-year-old said. "I just took each race as a stand-alone and came out swinging for each one." Poland's Daria Pikulik ended with the silver medal and New Zealand's Ally Wollaston was third.
