Record-breaking rides for US and British women's pursuit teams
National records were sent tumbling in the afternoon session on day three of the Track World Championships, with the USA and Great Britain both putting in storming rides in the first round of the women's team pursuit. The USA clocked 4:14.806 in booking their place in the gold medal ride, which is just over a second shy of Australia's World Record, while Great Britain successfully made it to the bronze medal ride with 4:16.350.
The two rides could hardly have come in more contrasting circumstances; while USA broke their record for the second time in as many days, shaving nearly a second and a half off their brilliant qualifying performance, the British record came off the back of a shambolic qualifying ride in which the quartet split and ruled themselves out of gold. Top of the team pursuit world for so long, the British women's invincibility was broken by Australia at last year's Worlds and, after Thursday's setback, this was a strong response in the face of adversity.
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"It was great way to bounce back; it was exactly what they needed to do," British Cycling coach Iain Dyer told Cyclingnews.
"Obviously there was disappointment [yesterday]. There were a lot of learning points to come out of it, so we took things into today and I thought the team did a great job in turning things around. It’s a big boost for them, no question. The challenge yesterday was to turn it around, come back and be better today, and they’re well on the way to doing that."
As for the USA, who are riding high at the moment, they are the hot favourites in tonight's final, where they will bid to win a first ever women's Worlds gold medal for their nation. Not just that, but there is the growing possibility of the world record falling here, as it did in France 12 months ago.
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