Political??? Stick it to the Brits. Having 4 mass start races means the outcome of the omnium is less predictable. For example, Laura Trott scores her wins/second places in the individual omnium races generating a lead and does good but not great in the mass start events. At least that is how Rio played out
For masters track national and worlds, there is no omnium just individual and team events. Elite track nationals has an omnium that includes individual events...at least it did.
At LAVRA timed events at Carson, I may do team sprint and the 500 in the morning and team pursuit and individual pursuit in the afternoon.
Two years ago, Hellyer offered a timed race omnium - flying lap, 500, kilo and 2k pursuit. There were 3 of us in my group slugging it out. By the pursuit, it was a death march and the pursuit times totally stunk up the place.