News: Gold for GB in Team Sprint

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Great Britain showed what masters they are preparing for an Olympiad by blitzing their rivals on the track in Rio on day 1 of competition – Gold for Men’s Team Sprint and World Record for Women’s Team Pursuit

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News: Gold for GB in Team Sprint

After years of poor results at World Championships, Great Britain got it right on the night as they showed what masters they are in the art of preparation for the Olympics. No more was this evident than in the Team Sprint where the team have struggled to match the results they had when Sir Chris Hoy was in the team.

After last night, they seem to have found another Scotsman who can proudly fill that spot, Callum Skinner. Combining with Olympic champions Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny, Skinner did everything the country expected and more to help the team to a Gold medal in the Team sprint.

After several rounds where the Olympic record was broken by the top two teams, GB and New Zealand, the two met in the final where the GB threesome defeated New Zealand to claim Britain’s first cycling gold at the Rio Olympic Games.

They set an Olympic record time of 42.440 seconds, just 0.102 seconds faster than the Kiwis. The Bronze went to France in 43.143 who had qualified behind Australia but beat them in the final for the medal.

It was a fourth Olympic gold for Jason Kenny, a second for Philip Hindes and a first for Callum Skinner. “It was all a bit of a surprise really,” Kenny said. “We’ve been going quite well in training so we had a rough idea of what we could do but we surpassed that in that first ride when we set that Olympic record.

“At that point, I thought we could run away with it like London but then New Zealand came back at us and set the benchmark. We just went into the final with nothing to lose. The team event is always the best no doubt about it. You get to win it with your mates and I remember that with Chris and Jamie in Beijing and then again in London. It’s good to share it with your mates.”

“We were outsiders coming into the Games so it is great for it all to come together,” added Kenny, who joins Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ben Ainslie, Matthew Pinsent and Paulo Radmilovic as four-time British Olympic champions. “The Kiwis went fast in the semi-finals and broke our Olympic record so to be honest I was relying on them to fall to bits. But they didn’t and we went out and beat them. That’s what makes me proud.”

“We get a chance to win the worlds every single year and we get a chance to win the Olympics every four. We can’t win a bloody worlds to save our lives, but we can win the Olympics every time.”

Newbie Callum Skinner says of the victory “It’s not been an easy road. So to come here and be Olympic champion is incredible. We’ve been working so hard and it shows it pays off. I’ve been training day in day out to improve my start and keep up with these boys. “It’s incredible. We set the Olympic record in the final and beat the world champions – there’s no better way to win it.”

Philip Hindes, part of the London 2012-winning team alongside Kenny and Hoy, on his second Olympic gold medal: “It is unbelievable. No-one expected us to win an Olympic gold medal after our World Championships performance. But we always believed in each other and we stepped up as a team.”

It was a third straight gold for Great Britain in the Team Sprint event after victories in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).

TEAM PURSUIT
The Team Sprint for Men was the only medal event on the night but day 1 did see qualification for the Team Pursuit for both Men and Women.

In the Women’s event, the Great Britain quartet of Joanna Rowsell Shand, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald set the place a buzz when they not only broke the Olympic record but the World record as well. With former Olympic champion Paul Manning guiding them from trackside, the British girls rode a stunning 4000 metres in just 4:13.260.

The only team to get close were the USA who in a much less technically adept ride, came close to the time of GB and at times were faster during their ride showing that if they iron out the mistakes, they may just pose a challenge to the British team should they meet, as expected, in the final. Next stop, round 1 for the British riders.

In the Men’s team Pursuit, Ed Clancy and Bradley Wiggins guided the quartet, that also included Steven Burke (best man 2 in the world says Chris Boardman) and the very strong Owain Doull making his Olympic debut, to yet another stunning display of team pursuiting.

The British team qualified fastest just missing out on a new world record with a time of 3:51.943, over three seconds faster than second place Denmark.

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Men’s Team Sprint

Qualifying
1. Great Britain 42.56s Olympic Record
C. Skinner, J. Kenny and P. Hindes

2. New Zealand 42.67s
3. Australia 43.15s
4. France 43.18s
5. Poland 43.29s
6. Netherlands 43.68s
7. Germany 43.71s
8. Venezuela 44.26s

Round 1

Heat 1
1. France 43.15s
2 Poland 43.55s

Heat 2
1. Australia 43.16s
2 Netherlands 43.55s
Heat 3
1. New Zealand 42.53s OR
2 Germany 43.45s

Heat 4
1. Great Britain 42.64s
C. Skinner, J. Kenny and P. Hindes

2 Venezuela 44.48s

Finals
1. Great Britain 42.44s OR
C. Skinner, J. Kenny and P. Hindes

2. New Zealand 42.54s

3. France 43.14s
4. Australia 43.29s

Men’s Team Pursuit

Qualifying

1. Great Britain 3:51.94
E. Clancy, B. Wiggins, S. Burke, M. Cavendish and O. Doull

2. Denmark 3:55.39
N. Larsen, C. Pedersen, F. Madsen, C. von Folsach and L. Hansen

3. Australia 3:55.60
C. Scotson, S. Welsford, J. Bobridge, M. Hepburn and Alexander Edmondson

4. New Zealand 3:55.97
D. Kennett, P. Bulling, R. Gough, H. Roulston and A. Gate

5. Italy 3:59.70
F. Lamon, F. Ganna, Liam Bertazzo, S. Consonni and E. Viviani

6. Germany 4:00.91
N. Schomber, H. Bommel, K. Thiele, D. Weinstein and R. Kluge

7. Switzerland 4:03.84
O. Beer, T. Schir, G. Suter, C. Thièry and S. Dillier

8. China 4:05.15
C.L. Qin, Y. Fan, S. Pingan and H. Liu

Netherlands crashed out

Women’s Team Pursuit

Qualifying
1. Great Britain 4:13.26 WR
J. Rowsell, L. Trott, E. Barker and K. Archibald

2. United States 4:14.28
3. Australia 4:19.05
4. Canada 4:19.59
5. New Zealand 4:20.06
6. China 4:25.24
7. Italy 4:25.54
8. Poland 4:28.98
9 Germany 4:30.06

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