The pursuit team of Sam Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien from Australia beat Britain in a close final at the Olympic velodrome on Wednesday night to win the gold medal for the first time in two decades.
The Australians finished in three minutes, 42.067 seconds in a final in which the two teams were separated by less than two-tenths for almost the entire 4,000 meters. It wasn’t until the British quartet of Daniel Bigham, Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield and Oliver Wood appeared to touch wheels at the end that they pulled away.
The men’s pursuit podium was destined for a shakeup after Australia roared through qualifying, then not only defeated Olympic champion Italy but also snatched away its world record, finishing in 3:40.730 to ease into the finals.
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Its opponent was a familiar one: Britain. The nation whose streak of three straight Olympic golds ended with a seventh-place letdown at the Tokyo Games beat the world champions from Denmark to return to the gold-medal race.
In the race for bronze, the Italian team of Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan rallied over the last 1,000 meters as the Danish team of Tobias Hansen, Niklas Larsen, Carl-Frederik Bevort and Rasmus Pedersen fell apart.
The finals of the women’s pursuit was later Wednesday night, when the U.S. quartet of Kristen Faulkner, Chloe Dygert, Lily Williams and Jennifer Valente were facing off against New Zealand for gold. The Americans have two silver medals and a bronze in three previous Olympics but have never triumphed in the event.
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