Lee Hye-jin misses keirin quarterfinal by 0.059 seconds

Lee Hye-jin, center, races in the first round of heat's of the women's keirin competition at Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka, Japan on Wednesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Cyclist Lee Hye-jin narrowly missed out on a spot in the women's keirin quarterfinals on Wednesday, missing the cut in both her preliminary heat and repechage race.

Lee was racing in the first heat at Izu Velodrome, one of the few Olympic venues that does permit spectators, in Shizuoka, Japan on Wednesday. She initially came in fourth, 0.534 seconds behind first-place finisher Katy Marchant of Great Britain, but was later moved up to third when Marchant was relegated for coming in too early in front of Chinese rider Lee Hoi Yan.

That relegation left Lee Hye-jin in third, 0.371 seconds behind first-place finisher Laurine van Riessen of the Netherlands. As only the top two riders move straight to the quarterfinals, Lee instead headed to the repechage for one more chance to earn a spot.

Lee finished third in the repechage race as well, 0.133 seconds behind winner Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand. Again, only two riders advanced to the quarterfinals, with Lee missing out by just 0.059 seconds to Liubov Basova of the Ukraine in second place.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]