Portugal holds off Italy and Denmark to win the gold medal in the men's Madison

MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France (AP) — The team of Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira from Portugal won the final sprint in the men's Madison after a chaotic 200-lap race on Saturday, holding off Italy and defending champion Denmark to capture the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Leitão added the gold medal to the silver he won two days earlier in the omnium, pumping his fist in equal parts celebration and disbelief inside a packed Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on the penultimate day of competition.

Leitão and Oliveira led the Italians and Danes by just two points going into the final sprint, which is worth double the amount the teams receive for the rest of the sprints every 10 laps. And with a big charge down the back stretch, they managed to sneak over the line in first place, giving them 55 points total and the title of Olympic champion.

The Italian team of Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani finished with 47 points to earn the silver medal, while the Danish duo of Michael Morkov and Niklas Larsen wound up with 41 points to round out the podium.

It was the second medal of the Paris Games for Consonni, who helped the Italians win bronze in the team pursuit. And it came one day after his sister, Chiara Consonni, teamed with Vittoria Guazzini to win the women's Madison competition.

The event gets its name from the venue where it originated — Madison Square Garden in New York. It is an endurance race in which teams accumulate points for winning intermediate sprints, and they can earn a 20-point bonus for gaining laps on the rest of the field. One rider is considered in the race at a time, though they can tag in their partner at any point.

Each of the three teams that landed on the podium gained a lap on the field.

The track cycling program Saturday at the Paris Games helped to set the stage for Sunday's finale, when Jennifer Valente of the U.S. will try to defend her omnium title, and medals will be decided in the women's sprint and the men's keirin.

In sprint heats, Ellesse Andrew of New Zealand sent defending Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell of Canada into the last-chance races. Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell of Britain, who won team sprint gold earlier in the Paris Games, advanced into the quarterfinals, as did Lea Friedrich and Emma Hinze of Germany and Hetty van de Wouw of the Netherlands.

Mitchell left nothing to chance in the repechages, going straight to the front and winning it to survive into the quarterfinals.

The first of the five keirin heats became easier to get through when Azizulhasni Awang, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Games, was disqualified. He overtook the motorized pace bike, called a derny, before it left the track to begin the three-lap sprint.

The rest of the favorites, including two-time Olympic sprint champion Harrie Lavreysen — the bronze medalist in Tokyo — and his Dutch teammate Jeffrey Hoogland, made it through to Sunday's quarterfinals without any problems.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Netherlands' Yoeri Havik and Jan Willem van Schip compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

New Zealand's Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Italy's Simone Consonni, left, and Elia Viviani compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Riders compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Czech Republic's Denis Rugovac and Jan Bones compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France.. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Portugal's Yuri Leitao and Rui Oliveira compete during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Italy's Simone Consonni is helped restart the race after crashing during the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Portugal's Rui Oliveira celebrates winning the gold medal of the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Portugal's Rui Oliveira celebrates winning the gold medal of the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Portugal's Rui Oliveira celebrates winning the gold medal of the men's madison event, at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced Tuesday that his country would send two dozen soldiers and police officers to Haiti this week to boost a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya to fight violent gangs.

The 20 soldiers and four police officers are scheduled to arrive Thursday and will join nearly 400 Kenyan police who arrived earlier this year and are working alongside Haitian police and military, said Vice Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, chief of defense staff for Jamaica’s military.

The Jamaicans will be responsible for providing command, planning and logistics support, Holness said at a news conference.

Jamaica had pledged a total of 170 soldiers and 30 police officers, but Holness said it wasn’t possible to deploy them all at once.

“It’s not practical,” he said, adding that facilities to host those arriving and a command structure need to be in place before the full number pledged is deployed. “We want a very successful operation.”

The initial number of police and soldiers announced by Holness surprised many and comes at a time when the U.S. government has warned that the Kenyan-led mission lacks money and personnel as it considers a U.N. peacekeeping mission as one way to secure more resources.

In recent days, the U.N. and Ecuador circulated a draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press asking the U.N. to start planning for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to replace the current mission. Such a proposal would have to be decided by the U.N. Security Council, which experts do not believe would approve it.

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said “it’s very strange” that there is apparently no money available to support the Kenyan-led mission.

“I think countries should assume responsibilities and should come and provide the necessary funding,” he said.

Holness did not comment on the possibility of a U.N. peacekeeping mission but said the current mission “can be a long and extended process.”

He added that the mission is not the only or final solution to problems in Haiti, where gangs control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The violence has spread to other areas across the country, with more than 3,200 killed from January to May, according to the U.N. The ongoing violence also has left more than half a million people homeless in recent years.

“Haiti is the example of what could happen if states and governments do not take the problem seriously and put in place the measures and resources necessary to bring the problem under control,” Holness said.

Overall, the mission is expected to have a total of 2,500 personnel, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers, although it wasn’t clear when that would happen.

On Saturday, the Bahamas' foreign affairs minister, Fred Mitchell, told reporters that while the government hasn't wavered in its pledge, it's unclear when it'll deploy troops to Haiti given that the mission's dynamics have changed.

“One of the things the Bahamas has to consider is the new position of the U.S.,” he said.

The mission is expected to cost roughly $600 million a year, although the U.N. has received only $68 million out of $85 million pledged so far. The U.S. and Canada have provided the majority of funds for now.

Police officers patrol a street near the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People walk down a street covered with trash in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Kenyan police officers, part of a UN-backed multinational, work to tow away a broken down armored car during an operation in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The commander of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission Godfrey Otunge, right, and the Haitian National Police general director Rameau Normil chat as they await the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

A Kenyan member of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission stands next to an armored vehicle moments before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrival for a meeting at the base in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

A Kenyan member of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission stands next to a Haitian police vehicle donated by the U.S. government and damaged by bullet hits during patrols, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)