Women’s team sprint: Bronze and gold medal final
RESULTS
Gold medal race
History would be made as both Great Britain and New Zealand had never won a medal in the women’s team sprint event. Great Britain won gold behind their time of 45.186, a world record.
New Zealand was not considered a medal favorite entering the day, but the team was riding with extra purpose in their hearts. The trio was riding in honor of their teammate Oliva Podmore, a top sprinter on the New Zealand national cycling team until her death by suicide in 2021. Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton and Ellesse Andrews represented New Zealand.
New Zealand had a strong start and led the for the first 250m, but by the 500m mark Great Britain took the lead. Individual sprint champion Emma Finucane’s final lap was nearly half a second faster than New Zealand’s. Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell joined Finucane in the gold medal race. Marchant won her second Olympic medal (bronze in women’s sprint in 2016) while Finucane and Capewell won their first medal. All three riders will also compete in the women’s sprint and women’s keirin events.
Finucane made sure to compliment her teammates after the race, “Katy delivered the first lap, Sophie delivered me for the last lap and I literally gave it 120 percent.”
“I literally saw red. I think that’s what it takes to win and to break world records, you have to go deeper than your body’s ever been before. And I found that, and we all did and we delivered on the day under huge pressure.”
Bronze medal race
Germany’s team of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich was likely disappointed to be in the bronze medal race, and not racing for gold after going undefeated at the last three World Championships. The trio came out fast and kept their lead. New Zealand pushed hard in the final lap, but it wasn’t enough. The Dutch would finish fourth in their second-straight Olympics. Germany claimed bronze and has finished on the podium every time the women’s team sprint has been contested. Friedrich and Hinze won silver together in the team sprint in Tokyo, while Grabosch won her first Olympic medal.
Source link : https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/olympic-cycling-recap-aug-5-track-disciplines-get-underway-womens-team-sprint
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Publish date : 2024-08-05 20:16:28
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