Belgium leaves European Track Cycling Championships with four gold medals
With nine medals, including four gold, the Belgian track cycling team concluded a particularly successful European Championships in Turkey on Thursday, finishing second in the overall medal standings. According to the coaching staff, Belgium has never achieved a better result at the event.
Belgium claimed four titles and five bronze medals, finishing behind only Great Britain, a dominant force in track cycling. The British team won 13 medals in total, including seven gold. Germany placed third, also with nine medals but fewer titles than Belgium.
Lotte Kopecky was the standout performer in Konya, winning three gold medals: individual titles in the elimination race and the points race, as well as gold in the team pursuit alongside Shari Bossuyt. Kopecky described her championship as a "ten out of ten". "I don't think my championship could have gone any better than this," she said.
The fourth Belgian title was secured by Hélène Hesters in the scratch race. The five bronze medals were won by Jules Hesters (elimination race), Jasper De Buyst (points race), Shari Bossuyt (omnium), Lowie Nulens (keirin), and the duo of Hesters and De Buyst in the team pursuit.
The medal haul marks a sharp increase on last year’s European Championships in Heusden-Zolder. Competing without Kopecky on home soil, Belgium then collected just three medals, none of them gold.
© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
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