Tomáš Bábek is the European champion for the second time.

Illustration photo: Tomáš Bábek

tomasbabek.cz

“The performance was not completely ideal today, but I’m really happy about how it turned out. Although I have it set up in myself so that I do everything mainly for the trip and not for the next goal, this is a nice point and for me such confirmation that it is going in the right direction, even though this season was as it was, “Bábek told ČTK.

The puppet defeated the British Ethan Vernon by 482 thousandths at the velodrome in Plovdiv, the Italian Jonathan Milan finished third. The second Czech participant of the race, Jakub Šťastný, who also took part in Wednesday’s silver medal from the team sprint, finished sixth.

Bábek got a taste for Saturday’s keirin, in which he unfortunately missed the final participation and then masterfully mastered the consolation ride for seventh place. In the kilometer race, he was the fastest in qualifying and then he won the first gold medal in this discipline outside the European Games. He already had bronze from the 2016 European Championships in Yvelines in his collection, and three years ago in Hong Kong he became world vice-champion.

“It’s even happier that it didn’t work out yesterday. I was disappointed, but that’s just keirin. With this gold, I largely erased the disappointment. I was hoping it would work out today, but it was “Of course, it’s also difficult. Even from the point of view that it was the last race day and the fatigue for the whole championship is loading. However, I take two medals and I’m very happy for them,” Bábek praised himself.

Sixth Sára Kaňkovská finished on the 500 with a firm start, winning the life silver in the keirin on Saturday. Veronika Jaborníková placed right behind her in a modest eight-member starting field. Russia’s Darya Shmelevova won the title.

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