Paris Olympics: Men's team sprint preview

The second medal event in track cycling at the Paris Olympics, the men's team sprint pits teams of three powerful riders against each other in a test of who can compete three laps (750 metres) the quickest.

The Dutch team have been the dominant squad in team sprinting since 2018 when they claimed their first world title, and with the powerhouse Harrie Lavreysen in their midst, the trio have won five of the past six Worlds.

Lavreysen, Roy van den Berg and Matthijs Büchli set the Olympic Record (41.369 seconds) en route to claiming gold in Tokyo, and hold the World Record (41.225 seconds) set in 2020.

The men's team sprint qualifying begins on August 5 at 13:09 local time at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome.

After being seeded in qualifying, the eight teams will face off 1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th fastest in the first round of racing on August 6 at 12:59 CET.

The top four will move onto the finals on August 6 at 13:55 with the top two racing for gold and silver and third and fourth competing for the bronze medal.

Men's Team Sprint competitors

• Australia: Matthew Glaetzer, Leigh Hoffman, Matthew RIchardson
• Canada: James Hedgcock, Tyler Rorke, Nick Wammes
• France: Florian Grengbo, Rayan Helal, Sebastien Vigier
• Germany: Stefan Bötticher, Maximilian Dörnbach, Luca Spiegel
• Great Britain: Jack Carlin, Ed Owen Lowe, Hamish Turnbull
• Japan: Yoshitaku Nagasako, Shinji Nakano, Yuta Obara, Kaiya Ota
• Netherlands: Jeffrey Hoogland, Harrie Lavreysen, Roy van den Berg
• China: Guo Shuai, Liu Qi, Zhou Yu

Men's Team Sprint contenders

While the Dutch have been so dominant for years, they aren't unbeatable. The Australians managed to get the better of them at Worlds in 2022 but the two team's haven't been head-to-head since Australia fell short in the Glasgow Worlds last August. They were just 0.045 seconds apart in the finals.

Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Glaetzer and Matthew Richardson will be out for revenge in Paris, and it's hard to imagine any other team getting close.

Men's Team Sprint schedule

• August 5: 11:00 - Men's Team Sprint Qualifying
• August 6: 12:59 - Men's Team Sprint, First Round
• August 6: 13:55 - Men's Team Sprint Finals