The Netherlands delivered on their favourite status in the men’s team sprint at the Tokyo Olympics Games taking the gold medal ahead of Great Britain with a new Olympic record of 41.369.
Jeffrey Hoogland bought it home for his Dutch teammates Roy van den Berg and Harrie Lavreysen while Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens had to settle for silver with a time of 44.589. Great Britain were initially in contention but then Kenny lost contact, ending Great Britain's hopes.
France trio of Florian Grengbo, Rayan Helal and Sebastien Vigier took bronze, with Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer quickly charging off alone making it a tough task for his teammates to maintain the pace till the end.
Germany came fifth with Russia Olympic disqualified after two false starts. It was New Zealand and Poland who then decided seventh and eighth place, with New Zealand coming out on top.
Netherlands confirm role as favourites in qualifying
The Netherlands confirmed their role as favourites in the men’s Team Sprint at the Tokyo Olympic Games, setting the fastest time of 42.371 in the qualifying round. Australia produced a superb ride to set a new Olympic record of 42.371 but minutes later the team who have won the event at the last three Track World Championships, the Netherlands, did even better to show their ambitions for later in the day.
Great Britain were last off and faster than the Netherlands for two laps only for Kenny to lose the advantage and drop to second place, just 0.097 of a second slower than the Netherlands.
Australia finished third, with France fourth in 42.722. The eight teams are seeded for the First Round based on their qualifying times and so the Netherlands will be last to start.
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