MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France—Track cyclists from Britain have become accustomed to standing on the top step of the podium at the Olympics.
Just not in the women’s team sprint.
In each of the four Summer Games since the event made its debut in Beijing, their powerful and often-favored teams had come up short—not just of the top step but any step, a frustrating streak of letdowns that they carried into the Paris Olympics.
So when Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane shattered the world record while beating New Zealand in a head-to-head showdown for gold Monday night, the enormity of the moment hit each of them in a meaningful way.
“It’s been a crazy journey,” Finucane said. “It’s just surreal standing on that top step, singing the anthem. It’s such a pinch-me moment. And I think going up to that start line for the final, we knew we could do it, but we had to execute. And I think we did that. And looking up at the boards and seeing all the GB flags in the crowd, I couldn’t believe we did it.”
In the three-lap race, the British trio trailed Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton, and Ellesse Andrews after the first 250 meters. But they quickly pulled ahead after the second lap, then blitzed the last to finish in 45.196 seconds, earning their nation’s first medal in the event on a hot, humid night inside the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
“I mean, the competition is hot,” Marchant said. “It takes a world record to become an Olympic champion.”
The two fastest winning teams from head-to-head heats advanced to race for gold. New Zealand clinched its spot when it set a world record against Poland, and Britain joined the Kiwis when it broke that record against Canada.
Turned out the British would break their own mark again about an hour later.
Germany also briefly held the world record after its heat race against Mexico. But the team of Pauline Grabosch, Lea Friedrich and Emma Hinze that has dominated the event since the Tokyo Games was left to race for the bronze medal.
They beat the Netherlands to extend their podium streak to all four times the event has been contested in the Olympics.
The reason so many records fell is that the women’s team sprint changed after Tokyo to mirror the men’s event, which means three riders on the track rather than two and a whole new set of marks.
And the Chinese, who had been defending Olympic champs, have been slow to adapt. They had a false start in qualifying, then finished well behind the Dutch in their heat to miss the medals entirely.
In other events on the opening night of track cycling, the defending champion Dutch men’s sprint team of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland broke their own Olympic record with a time of 41.279 seconds in qualifying. The British team of Ed Lowe, Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull qualified second and the Australian team was third.
The Netherlands, which has won five of the past six world titles in the three-lap sprint, will aim for gold Tuesday night.
Lavreysen is shooting for three gold medals in the velodrome after coming up just short of that haul in Tokyo. The 27-year-old powerhouse also won gold in the individual sprint three years ago but could only manage bronze in the keirin.
In the men’s team pursuit, the British squad that had its streak of three consecutive Olympic gold medals stopped by Italy and Denmark at the Tokyo Games sent a warning shot toward their biggest rivals in qualifying.
The quartet of Ethan Hayter, Oliver Wood, Dan Bigham and Ethan Vernon covered the 4-kilometer distance in 3:43.241, which stood as the best time through several other efforts. The only team to surpass them were the Australians, who surprisingly led qualifying in 3:42.958—not far off Italy’s world record set in Tokyo.
“We had a bit of a disappointing disaster in Tokyo with our crash,” Australia’s Sam Welsford said, “so it was a lot of redemption to come here, and we have a really good shot at it. We nailed the process and the preparation.”
The reigning Olympic champion Italy went last but was never on the same pace, finishing fourth in qualifying. The world champ Danes were third-fastest behind Australia and Britain, stopping the clock in 3:43.690 ahead of Tuesday’s head races.
“We didn’t go flat out, not really. We have to be a bit careful,” Italy’s Jonathan Milan said. “I’m pretty positive. Now we have to rest as much as possible and come back tomorrow as fresh as we can.”
By Dave Skretta