Tokyo-bound cyclists share training venue with vaccination centre

France's national team of track cyclists have had to share their Olympic training venue - west of Paris - with people who come for the Covid-19 vaccine at the national velodrome.

A woman receives Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at the National Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, west of Paris.

The road to the Tokyo Olympics has been most unusual for France's national team of track cyclists. They have had to share their Olympic training venue - west of Paris - with people who come for the Covid-19 vaccine at the national velodrome, now a mass vaccination centre.

But Tokyo-bound track cyclists Mathilde Gros and Sebastien Vigier, both qualified for the Olympics that start in Japan this month, say they have enjoyed having an audience.

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Before the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was requisitioned for use as a vaccination centre, the national team mostly trained there alone, with no one to watch them. But the crowds of people who come every day for vaccination jabs have made the cavernous velodrome more lively.

France this week passed another milestone in its vaccination campaign, getting past 50 per cent of the population now having had at least one jab. Tokyo-bound athletes are being vaccinated too.