Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane made history as the first ever Team GB women’s team sprint Olympic medallists, storming to the gold medal in a world record time after a dramatic night at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
Women’s team sprint
The British trio of Marchant, Capewell and Finucane flew to the gold, breaking the world record for the third time as a team, and a fifth time that evening, to clock 45.186 to beat New Zealand.
The Team GB women qualified fastest in the first world record time of the evening in 45.472, before the German squad of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich broke it again in their first-round ride.
Three minutes later, the New Zealand trio of Shaane Fulton, Rebecca Petch and Ellesse Andrews rode even faster with a time 45.348.
But Team GB were quick to react, lining up against Canada in their first-round ride to shatter the world record for a fourth time, clocking 45.338, and go into the gold medal ride off against New Zealand.
A strong start from Marchant saw the Team GB women fire from the gun, but were just off the pace as New Zealand’s Petch crossed the line 0.133 seconds ahead. Capewell continued to storm around the track, just nudging the British team ahead before changing over to sprint world champion Finucane. The Welsh rider brought it home in front of a raucous crowd, crossing the line in another world record ride of 45.186.
Speaking after the win, Finucane said:
“We’ve been working really hard on this, and you’ve probably heard it so many times, but the process for us is really key. We nailed that final, and I believed in us. Before we went up, I knew we could do it, but to actually execute lap one, lap two, lap three pretty much perfectly is insane. To cross the line first, I was like ‘no way’. It’s a dream come true, and I’ve dreamed about this since I was 10 years old. To have these two by my side has been unreal.”
Capewell added:
“The journey to get here for everyone has been so up and down. I’ve had my own personal battles. I wish my dad was up in the stands watching it. I know he would be super proud of me. It’s not felt real all day. We did every ride and kept going faster and we were top of the timing sheets!”
Marchant, who claimed a bronze medal in the individual sprint at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, said:
“I literally have no words. Phenomenal. Literally incredible. We did it!”
Men’s team sprint
In the men’s team sprint qualifying heats, Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin clocked the second quickest time of the evening in 41.862.
The first two laps saw the British squad just off the pace behind the Australians, before Carlin’s flying last lap saw them take the fastest time so far. The defending Dutch champions qualified first in an Olympic record time of 41.279.
Men’s team pursuit
Ethan Vernon, Ollie Wood, Dan Bigham and Ethan Hayter started off their Olympic campaign in the men’s team pursuit qualifying round.
At the 2.5km mark, Vernon swung up after a fantastic effort, with the quartet already three seconds up on the fastest time. The three riders continued to ride consistently well, crossing the line in first place with a British record time of 3:43.241.
After a strong ride from Australia, the British riders went through second for tomorrow’s first round, while Denmark and defending champions Italy finished third and fourth, respectively, to put those top four nations in with a chance of a medal.
The 11th day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will see the riders take to the track once again, with the final of the men’s team sprint, first round of the men’s team pursuit, and qualifying for the women’s team pursuit.
You can watch on Discovery+ or BBC from 16:00 BST and follow the results on the British Cycling social media channels.
