A battered velodrome, a borrowed bike: Nigeria's Olympic track cyclist battles the odds in Paris

Ese Ukpeseraye (Nigeria) starts her flying lap in the Paris Olympics
Ese Ukpeseray๐Ÿฆนe โ™‘(Nigeria) starts her flying lap in the Paris Olympics (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWPix.com)

Nigerian Ese Ukpeseraye might have been dead last in the 168ๆพณๆดฒ5ๆœ€ๆ–ฐๅผ€ๅฅ–็ป“ๆžœ:Paris Olympic Games track cycling qualifying event for 168ๆพณๆดฒ5ๆœ€ๆ–ฐๅผ€ๅฅ–็ป“ๆžœ:women's Individual Sprint on Friday, but considering she hadn't trained on a velodrome for more than a year and was riding on a borrowed bike, her 200-metre flying lap was a more than respectable time - 11.652  seconds. It was a performance she hoped would inเทดspire her๐“† country to invest in track cycling.

Ukpeseraye said she was so surprised by ๐’ˆ”the time that she felt as happy as if she had won the race.

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North Ame๐Ÿ”ฅrican events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she lik๐ŸŽes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.