Australia took the gold medal in the men’s track cycling team pursuit race at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday after a thrilling race against Britain.
Australia’s quartet of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien had set a new world record of three minutes, 40.730 seconds in Tuesday’s first round, and ended Wednesday’s final race on 3:42.067, while Team GB’s Ethan Hayter, Oliver Wood, Charlie Tanfield and Ethan Vernon finished on 3:44.394. However, that did not tell the full story of the drama.
“It was close, and I knew in the last three laps they would come quicker, and we just tried to match it. The boys did a good job of keeping their nerve,” said Welsford after the race.
It has been 20 years since Australia last won the event, and Welsford admitted it was “pretty crazy” to think they were Olympic champions.
“We probably did not have these expectations when we started training together. To come together like we did in the last month was pretty special,” he added.
The quartets were neck and neck with only 0.150s between them as they went into the last lap, where Hayter simply ran out of gas.
“We were so close. I just gave too much and my whole body went weak and I couldn’t stay on the bike anymore. I’m sorry for these guys. We’re super happy to win a silver though,” explained Hayter.
“The dream never died. We have come here and won a silver medal and these lads can all be proud because they did a great job,” added Wood.
Italy produced a strong second half to claim bronze after Denmark spectacularly fell apart in the closing laps.
The team pursuit sees teams of four riders start on opposite sides of the 250-meter track before completing 16 circuits as quickly as possible.
It is a test of strength, speed and organization, as it is vital for the riders to stay as close as possible to each other to cut down on wind resistance.
