With Sunday marking the end of the Paris Olympic Games, Malaysia’s medal campaign has officially concluded with two bronze medals; one from badminton singles player Lee Zii Jia, and men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik. With that said, this did not come without a highly contentious crash close to the very end of the Games during the men’s keirin semi-finals involving Malaysian cyclist Shah Firdaus and Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano.
The collision occurred at the Saint Quentin en Yvelines Velodrome moments before both cyclists reached the finish line, with Nakano appearing to have struck into Firdaus’ bike, causing both athletes to topple over. This also cost British cyclist Jack Carlin chances at a spot in the finals when he lost control and crashed out behind the duo.
While initial race results indicated that Shah Firdaus had finished fourth, his status was changed to ‘relegated’ upon publishing race results on the Olympic’s website, placing him sixth overall. Only the top three from each semi-final heat will advance to the finals. Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen nabbed the gold for the men’s kirin event overall, with Australia’s Matthew Richardson taking home the silver and Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer cinching the bronze.
Who is Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano?
Born in the Iwate prefecture of Japan, 25-year-old Shinji Nakano first made his professional debut as a competitive cyclist during the 2015 Japan Cup Cycle Road Race for the Under-17 category, representing Shoyo Sowa High School.
He would subsequently win his first major gold during the 2022 Asian Games at Hangzhou for the Team Sprint event and finished with a Bronze medal during the 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships for keirin that was held in Glasgow.
Firdaus and Nakano last faced off against each other during the 2023 UCI Track Nations Cup, where the latter nabbed gold while our national cyclist came in with Silver. The Japanese athlete is currently represented by Team Rakuten K Dreams.
Feature and hero image credit: Shinji Nakano/Instagram
