Megan Jastrab and USA Cycling finish ninth in first-ever Olympic Women’s Madison

TOKYO, Japan (August 6, 2021) – Milligan University student-athlete Megan Jastrab and her USA Cycling teammate Jennifer Valente placed ninth in the inaugural running of the Women's Madison at the 2020 Olympic Games early on Friday morning at the Izu Velodrome.

USA Cycling Release

Widely considered one of the most exciting events in professional track cycling, the Madison consists of two-rider teams with one member racing actively racing while the other recovers before exchanging by tagging in and out. Opportunities for points are found in sprints every 10 laps of the 120 lap (30 km) race. An additional 20 points are awarded for lapping the field while there is a 20 point deduction for being lapped.

Jastrab became the first American woman to record a point in the Olympic Madison when she finished fourth in the third sprint at 90 laps to go.

The United States finished ninth among a field of 15 countries with 1 point. Great Britain (78 points), Denmark (35 points) and the Russian Olympic Committee (26 points) made the podium in the first-ever Women's Madison. Team GB won 10 of 12 springs and lapped the field along with Denmark and the ROC.

The race featured a blazing pace and several crashes, but Jastrab and Valente avoided trouble and were able to finish the race. The United State finished a point behind eighth-place Italy and were nine points out of fifth place with Poland and Australia taking sixth and seventh with nine points apiece.

Both Jastrab and Valente collected a bronze medal earlier in the week alongside Emma White and Chole Dygert in the Women's Team Pursuit. They set a United States National Record (4:07.562) against Great Britain and defeated Canada in the Medal Round to secure Olympic bronze.

Jastrab concluded her competition schedule in Tokyo with the Women's Madison. She made Milligan University history as the first current student-athlete to compete in the Olympics, first to earn an Olympic medal and first to compete for Team USA. At 19 years old, she became one of two American women to compete in the inaugural Women's Madison and the first American woman to score in the event.