Men’s Team Sprint
There was controversy two in the Men’s Team Pursuit where no less than four teams – including the second and fourth fastest qualifiers – were relegated because one of their riders drew away by more than 15 meters before the end of his lap.
France had qualified fastest with a 43.247 and went to the Final without any fuss. Germany were a tenth behind, but fell victim to the Commissaires and were relegated. Australia – third fastest on 43.512 joined France in the Final having qualified just two hundredths faster than Great Britain, who were also relegated. That moved New Zealand into the Bronze medal ride along with Japan.
The Kiwis took their second Bronze medal of the evening comfortably, while the Final could hardly have been closer. France were a couple of tenths down on their qualifying time, Australia a couple up but it was the Aussie’s time of 43.266 that clinched the Gold just one thousandth of a second ahead of the French trio.
By their high standards the evening hadn’t gone well for Australia up to that point – they were visibly shocked to have missed out on both the Men’s Team Pursuit and Women’s Team Sprint titles – but the Gold for Matthew Glaetzer, Scott Sunderland and Shane Perkins will spur them on for the rest of the week.
Qualification
1 France 43.247 (BAUGE Gregory, SIREAU Kevin, D’ALMEIDA Michael)
2 Australia 43.512 (PERKINS Shane, SUNDERLAND Scott, GLAETZER Matthew)
3 New Zealand 43.742 (MITCHELL Ethan, WEBSTER Sam, DAWKINS Edward)
4 Japan 44.039 (AMAGAI Kazuki, WATANABE Kazunari, NAKAGAWA Seiichiro)
Greece, United States, Germany and Great Britain were relegated for drawing away by more than 15 meters before the end of the lap
Final
GOLD Australia 43.266 (PERKINS Shane, SUNDERLAND Scott, GLAETZER Matthew)
SILVER France 43.267 (BAUGE Gregory, SIREAU Kevin, D’ALMEIDA Michael)
BRONZE New Zealand 43.812 (MITCHELL Ethan, WEBSTER Sam, DAWKINS Edward)
4 Japan 43.896 (AMAGAI Kazuki, WATANABE Kazunari, NAKAGAWA Seiichiro)
