Olympic Games: Great Britain set world record in team pursuit

Great Britain team set a new world record in the team pursuit in a time of 3:50:570 in their semi-final ride against New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Rio. The record, set in London during the 2012 Olympic Games, stood at 3:51:659.

Bradley Wiggins, Steve Burke, Owain Doull, and Ed Clancy qualified fastest on Thursday but fell just outside their own record set four year ago in the London Olympics. 

In the match up against New Zealand they started quickly, a tenth of a second faster over their opening lap set during qualifying. Huge turns from Wiggins – before he pulled off – and the Ed Clancy distanced the opposition with the first 1000m covered in 1:02.022.

They increased their pace over the next quarter, covering 1000m in 55.708. The third 1000m were covered in 56.055 and despite losing Wiggins in the closing laps they held on for a 56.785 over the final 1000m.

Coming into the Games Wiggins and the team had told the press that the squad were breaking the world record in training. Wiggins, who is looking for a fifth Olympic gold medal won the Tour de France in 2012 and backed that up with a gold medal in the Olympic time trial. 

Great Britain will face off against arch rivals Australia in the men’s team pursuit final.