Britain girls land pursuit crown
Hosts Britain collected their fourth gold medal from five events at the Olympic velodrome yesterday after the women’s pursuit team triumphed in a new world record time of 3min 14.051sec. The USA finished second to take the silver with Canada completing...
Hosts Britain collected their fourth gold medal from five events at the Olympic velodrome yesterday after the women’s pursuit team triumphed in a new world record time of 3min 14.051sec.
The USA finished second to take the silver with Canada completing the podium in the inaugural Olympic women’s event, held over 3 km and 12 laps as opposed to 4 km and 16 for the men.
Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell had set a new world record for the 3 km event on Friday but sliced nearly a second off that time a day later in qualifying for the gold medal match in a stunning time of 3min 14.682sec.
It sent them into the final against Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Lauren Tamayo, who came in for Jennie Reed, but despite a tight start to the race the Americans faded over the last half.
After the first four laps the USA were only 0.78sec down, but the deficit soon grew and by the finish they were over five seconds off the pace finishing, in 3:19.727.
Britain’s new time was their third consecutive world record in as many rides and gave all three riders their maiden Olympic medal.
“We did it,” said Trott, a 20-year-old who is Britain’s favourite for gold in the inaugural women’s omnium. “We didn’t expect a world record in every round.”
King, who had much of the crowd in tears after an emotional trackside hug with her family, said: “Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. I’m just so happy for us all.
“We came together tonight with such an amazing team. We couldn’t have done it without each other. I’m just ecstatic. I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
With barely 90 minutes between the crucial first round rides and the medal round itself, form was always going to be a factor.
Australia had earlier just missed out on the gold medal match that would have guaranteed at least silver or gold.
And they were left lamenting that setback as they tired late on in their battle for third place with Canada, who capped off their solid campaign to post a time of 3:17.915. Australia finished in 3:18.096.
Medals table
| Country | G | S | B | Tot. |
| United States | 26 | 13 | 15 | 54 |
| China | 25 | 16 | 12 | 53 |
| Great Britain | 14 | 7 | 8 | 29 |
| South Korea | 9 | 3 | 5 | 17 |
| France | 8 | 6 | 8 | 22 |
| Germany | 5 | 10 | 6 | 21 |
| Italy | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Kazakhstan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| North Korea | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Russia | 3 | 15 | 10 | 28 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Japan | 2 | 10 | 12 | 24 |
| Cuba | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Hungary | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Poland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Ukraine | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Australia | 1 | 12 | 7 | 20 |
| Romania | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Canada | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| Belarus | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Denmark | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Croatia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Ethiopia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jamaica | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Venezuela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mexico | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Sweden | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Colombia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Spain | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| India | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Belgium | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Kenya | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mongolia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Norway | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Serbia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Egypt | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Guatemala | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Thailand | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Taipei | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Greece | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Moldova | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Iran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Qatar | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tunisia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Today’s finals
Athletics
Women’s marathon
Women’s triple jump
Men’s 100m
Men’s hammer
Women’s 400m
Men’s 3,000m steeplechase
Badminton
Men’s singles
Men’s doubles final
Track Cycling
Men’s Omnium
Fencing
Men’s team foil
Artistic Gymnastics
Men’s floor exercise
Women’s vault
Men’s pommel horse
Weightlifting
Women’s +75kg
Wrestling
Men’s 55 kg
Men’s 74 kg
Diving
Women’s 3m springboard final
Tennis
Mixed doubles
Men’s singles final
Women’s doubles
Shooting
Men’s 50m pistol
Trap men
Sailing
Men’s Star
Men’s Finn
Results
Basketball (men)
Tunisia vs France 69-73; Russia vs Spain 77-74; Lithuania vs United States 94-99; China vs Brazil 59-98; Great Britain vs Australia 75-106.
Football (men)
Quarter-finals: Japan vs Egypt 3-0; Mexico vs Senegal 4-2 (aet); Brazil vs Honduras 3-2; Great Britain vs South Korea 1-1 (4-5 on penalties).
Semi-finals: Brazil vs South Korea; Japan vs Mexico.
Volleyball (men)
Germany vs Tunisia 3-0; Britain vs Poland 0-3; Australia vs Italy 2-3; Russia vs United States 3-2; Argentina vs Bulgaria 3-1.
Waterpolo (men)
Montenegro vs Romania 12-8; Croatia vs Australia 11-6; Greece vs Spain 9-11; Italy vs Kazakhstan 9-6; Hungary vs Great Britain 17-6