Great Britain win Olympic gold, set world record in women's team pursuit

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Great Britain wind Olympic gold, set new world record in women's team pursuit

There were huge roars from the crowds as Great Britain's Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Roswell-Shand won the gold medal in the women's team pursuit to close out day 3 of track racing at the Olympic Games. The team also broke their own world record for the third time this week with a time of 4:10.236.

The USA went out strong to lead the race in the early phase with Sarah Hammer on the front pulling along Kelly Catlin, Chloe Dygert and Jennifer Valente. Great Britain took the lead for the first time gaining over a second ahead of the US team at the halfway point. The US lost a rider in the closing laps as Catlin fell off the back. Great Britain picked up another second and even though they lost a rider with a lap to go, they continued strong through the final lap to break their own world record and win the gold medal.

Canada faced New Zealand for the bronze-medal round and went out strong with an early lead. The Canadians with Allison Beveridge, Jasmin Glaesser, Kristi Lay and Georgia Simmerling kept their train tight and put pressure on the New Zealand team of Lauren Ellis, Raquel Sheath, Rushlee Buchanan and Jaime Nielsen, as their fourth rider began to fall off the back. Canada also lost a rider in the closing laps but went into the final lap with over two seconds of an advantage, and went on to secure the bronze medal for a second consecutive Olympic Games.

Italy and Australia lined up to contest the race for fifth and sixth. Australia with Georgia Baker, Annette Edmondson, Amy Cure and Melissa Hoskins, who had crashed earlier in the week, were hoping to finish in that fifth place and they started out much faster than the Italian team of Simona Frapporti, Tatiana Guderzo, Francesca Pattaro and Siliva Valsecchi. Both teams lost one rider early on, but Italy lost their third rider with two laps to go and Australia's Baker, Edmondson and Cure went on to secure fifth place.

China raced a formality in the round for 7th place, given that Poland had been relegated and then disqualified after the first round.

Great Britain continued their dominance in the women's team pursuit, from the previous day's qualifiers, during the morning session's first round heats, setting a world record of 4:12.152, before breaking it again in the gold-medal round. The quartet beat the Canadian team to advance to the gold-medal round against the USA. The US team won their heat against Australia's injured team.

The morning session set the stage for an exciting finale between Great Britain and the USA for the gold medal.

Dutchwoman Ligtlee wins gold medal in women's keirin

Elis Ligtlee took a surprise gold medal for the Netherlands in the women's keirin. The Dutch rider sprinted to the victory ahead of Great Britain's Rebecca James in silver, while Anna Meares of Australia took the bronze. World champion from Germany Kristina Vogel was forced to settle for sixth place.

Vogel rode the fastest time in the women's keirin first round with 11.209 during the morning session. She won the round ahead of Meares and both advanced to the second round along with six other riders; Rebecca James (Great Britain), Hyejin Lee (Korea), Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong), Elis Ligtlee (Netherlands), Tianshi Zhong (China) and Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania), who advanced from the remaining heats.

Laurine Van Riessen (Netherlands) took to the trackside advertising hoardings in her heat 2 to avoid a high-speed crash that ended several riders’ chances but ended without serious injury. Lee won that heat.

Four other riders advanced through the first round repachages including Van Riessen, Martha Bayona Pineda (Colombia), Liubov Basova (Ukraine) and Anastasiia Voinova (Russia).

Vogel and Meares kept their keirin success going during the second rounds of the discipline in the afternoon session on the track in Rio. Vogels won her second-round heat while Meares took top honours in hers, and both will advance to the the finals 1-6. Also progressing are Elis Ligtlee (Netherlands), Anastasiia Voinova (Russia), Liubov Basova (Ukraine) and Rebecca James (Great Britain). But it was Ligtlee who ended up going on to win the gold medal, leaving James with silver, Meares bronze, while Vogel was last in the final round.

Great Britain's Kenny and Skinner to race gold-medal round 

Great Britain's sprinters Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner will face each other in the gold-medal round of the men's sprints on Sunday. Each won their respective heats in the semifinals and advanced through to the gold-medal round. The losers of each of those semifinal rounds; Dennis Dmitriev (Russia) and Matthew Glaetzer (New Zealand) will race against each other for the bronze medal.

Kenny and Skinner won their respective heats during the men's sprint quarterfinals in the afternoon session of day 3 at the track in Rio. The duo raced in heats 1 and 2, respectively, where they won and advanced to the semifinals, while Dmitriev and Glaetzer also advanced through to the semifinals.

Kenny and Skinner kicked off the men's sprints with strong performances in the morning's 1/8 final heats. Kenny won his heat against Colombia's Fabian Puerta Zapata with a time of 10.369, while Skinner won his heat against New Zealand's Patrick Constable with a time of 10.359.

The fastest sprint of the morning session, however, came from Dmitriev, who won his heat in 10.102, while France's Gregory Bauge won his heat in 10.103, making them the favourites for the next rounds but Dmitriev beat Bauge in the quarterfinals.

Olympic track racing will continue with day 4 on Sunday.

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