Japanese sprinter Kaiya Ota was in tears after the men's individual sprint cycling event at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

The two sprinters swapped lines, bumped helmets, and bumped elbows during the sprint, and eventually race officials decided that Carlin would advance to the semifinals to face defending Olympic champion Harry Lavraisen of the Netherlands ...

Kaya won the first sprint with a rotation of speed and then beat Carlin in the second sprint. He celebrated his victory after a high speed body bump, but the judges overturned the result and awarded the win to Carlin due to a ruling that Kaiya had descended towards the inside of the course when Carlin was already there.

In the last 250 meters of the third duel, the two were once again shoulder to shoulder. Carlin appeared to be temporarily out of the sprinters' lane, but was judged the winner by 0.014 seconds over Kaya.

Both riders received warnings in the final race, Carlin for "erratic movement to prevent an opponent from overtaking" and Kaiya for "dangerous riding," but the judges ruled Carlin the winner in the third round.

Team Japan asked for a review, but the officials refused to change the result, leaving Kaiya in tears.

"I'm really disappointed because I thought I could make it to the medal round, but I didn't because I was too naive," Kaiya said.

"The judges look at the details and decide, so I don't really know, but I think I got too close to my opponent, which led to my demotion."

Japanese sprint coach Jason Niblett admitted that Kaya was drawn into a nervous tactical battle by Carlin, at the mercy of the judges, and was punished for aggressive riding.

"Sometimes the decision goes our way, sometimes it doesn't," the Australian coach admitted.

"Ideally, we are not in a position to argue with the judges, but a ruling is a ruling."

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