Font Size

ADDS citations, other races

The Netherlands twice broke their own world record as they defended their Olympic gold medal in the men’s team sprint on Tuesday, while Australia fired a warning shot after overriding the team pursuit signal.

Dutch stars Harrie Lavreysen, Roy van den Berg and Jeffrey Hoogland led Britain to silver with a stunning 40.949sec at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, while Australia took the bronze.

The trio then thrilled the capacity crowd by setting a world record of 41.191 in the heats, beating their previous record of 41.225 in Berlin in 2020.

“This is crazy,” said Lavreysen, the world’s best sprinter.

“Of course we were aiming for the gold medal but breaking the world record and getting below 41 was really special.

“The track was really fast and we felt we had to break the record to become Olympic champions.”

Lavreysen, who is also the favorite in the individual sprint, has medal hopes in the keirin.

When asked if he felt invincible, he replied, “We’re starting off well this week, let’s see.”

The same trio won Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago, ending a run of title triumphs in Beijing, London and Rio by the Jason Kenny-led British team.

Britain, with Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin, were once again no match for the pace, strategy and power of a tight-knit Dutch team that has dominated since winning its first world title in 2018.

They have since won four of five world titles and now have two consecutive Olympic gold medals.

“We went into this race thinking we were going to fight for third place, so as soon as we got to the gold final all the stress went away,” Turnbull said.

“We just tried to express what we can do.”

In the men’s team pursuit, Australia beat Italy in a time of 3:40.730, breaking a world record and winning the gold medal with a time of 3:42.032.

This record was achieved by Italy on its way to the championship in Tokyo, the most prestigious event on the track cycling programme.

The Australian team, consisting of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien, will face Britain for the gold medal.

“I think he’ll be fast again tomorrow,” Welsford said. “I think with the conditions and the level of the Olympic final, you need to find that extra boost.”

Britain, who won the most medals in the men’s team pursuit with 15, started the campaign with a win over Denmark after falling to seventh in Tokyo after winning in Beijing, London and Rio.

Eight world records have been broken so far in the first two days of track racing, while five new records were set in the women’s sprint on Monday, with Britain taking the gold medal.

New Zealand were the fastest team in the women’s team pursuit heats with a time of 4:04.679, falling half a second short of Germany’s 2021 world record.

England have chosen fourth-placed Italy as their next opponent, facing a US team including Paris road race gold medallist Kristen Faulkner.

The winners of these series advance to the gold medal fight.

Defending champion Germany could only finish fifth with a time of 4:08.313, and their championship fight was also disrupted.

Having won gold at the 2012 London Olympics with the addition of this event and retained their title in Rio, England were relegated to second place by Germany in Tokyo.