Dutch defending Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen shattered the men’s individual sprint world record in track cycling on Wednesday in qualifying, just minutes after Australia’s Matthew Richardson lowered the mark.
Lavreysen, who led the Netherlands to the team sprint gold medal on Tuesday, flew round the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome in 9.088secs.
His sensational ride came on the heels of Richardson becoming the first man ever under 9.100 when he clocked 9.091 to smash Nicholas Paul’s five-year-old world mark.
A slew of new world records have been set at the lightening-fast Paris track, with eight on the opening two days of competition before Lavreysen’s exploits on Wednesday.
