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29th Olympic Games - JO

Beijing, China, August 9-23, 2008

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Event 24 - August 17: Men's 4000m Team Pursuit First Round

Great Britain sets new World record

By Rob Jones in Beijing

Great Britain set a new world record in the qualifying round
Photo ©: Casey Gibson
(Click for larger image)
Great Britain showed that its the team of the track events at the Olympics. In the qualifying round they set a new world record with 3'55"202. Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins easily advanced into the next round with their time.

In qualifying, Great Britain and New Zealand were the only teams to go under four minutes. But when it came to the first round, with the fastest two going on to race for gold, third and fourth to go for bronze and the rest to go home, the speeds picked up dramatically.

All four teams that moved on to the medal round caught their opponents. Great Britain smashed the world record of 3:56.322, which they set at the world championships in March, by over a second - 3:55.205 . Denmark qualified second at 3:56.831, followed by New Zealand (3:57.536) and Australia (3:58.633), the defending Olympic champions.

Great Britain has said that they will not talk to the media until after the gold medal ride, however, Denmark has all but conceded the title.

"We were very nervous," said Danish team member Michael Moerkoev. "Because New Zealand was our biggest competition [for silver]. Great Britain is far away, way ahead."

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Casey Gibson/www.cbgphoto.com

Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com

Results

Heat 1
1 Denmark           3.56.831 (60.802 km/h)
   Michael Moerkoev
   Casper Joergensen
   Jens-Erik Madsen
   Alex Nicki Rasmussen

DSQ France                  
   Damien Gaudin
   Matthieu Ladagnous
   Christophe Riblon
   Nicolas Rousseau

Heat 2
1 Australia         3.58.633 (60.343 km/h)
   Jack Bobridge
   Graeme Brown
   Mark Jamieson
   Bradley McGee

caught Netherlands          
   Levi Heimans
   Jens Mouris
   Robert Slippens
   Wim Stroetinga
Heat 3
1 New Zealand       3.57.536 (60.622 km/h)
   Sam Bewley
   Hayden Roulston
   Marc Ryan
   Jesse Sergent

caught Spain                
   Sergi Escobar
   Asier Maeztu
   David Muntaner
   Antonio Miguel Parra

Heat 4
1 Great Britain     3.55.202 (3:55.202 km/h)
   Ed Clancy
   Paul Manning
   Geraint Thomas
   Bradley Wiggins

caught Russian Fed.         
   Evgeny Kovalev
   Alexei Markov
   Alexander Petrovskiy
   Alexander Serov

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