US women qualify fastest in Minsk World Cup

The US women team pursuiters at the Pan Am Games in Lima

(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

The US women set the fastest qualifying time in the opening round of the 2019-2020 UCI Track World Cup in Minsk, Belarus on Thursday.

The result marks the return of former Olympian and world champion Chloe Dygert to the formation after a year away due to injuries. Dygert was joined by fellow Rio silver medalist Jen Valente and newcomers Ellen White and Christina Birch.

The quartet will now face Great Britain in the first round. The British squad led by the decorated Olympian Laura Kenny fell ten seconds short of their world record, finishing fourth fastest behind Italy and Germany.

Denmark led the men's rankings, topping Italy by a wide margin. France were third best ahead of Switzerland.

The US men's squad that won the Pan American Games struggled against the international field and failed to qualify for the first round.

Elite Women Team Pursuit Qualifying
Pos.	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	United States	0:04:15.505
	Jennifer Valente
	Christina Birch
	Chloe Dygert
	Emma White
2	Italy	0:04:17.474
	Letizia Paternoster
	Elisa Balsamo
	Marta Cavalli
	Vittoria Guazzini
3	Germany	0:04:17.985
	Franziska Brausse
	Lisa Brennauer
	Lisa Klein
	Mieke Kroger
4	Great Britain	0:04:20.605
	Laura Kenny
	Megan Barker
	Josie Knight
	Emily Nelson
5	France	0:04:22.292
	Clara Copponi
	Marion Borras
	Coralie Demay
	Valentine Fortin
6	Belgium	0:04:22.546
	Jolien d'Hoore
	Annelies Dom
	Shari Bossuyt
	Lotte Kopecky
7	Ireland	0:04:25.389
	Lara Gillespie
	Mia Griffin
	Kelly Murphy
	Alice Sharpe
8	Poland	0:04:26.523
	Daria Pikulik
	Justyna Kaczkowska
	Karolina Karasiewicz
	Nikol Plosaj
9	Russian Federation	0:04:27.357
	Tamara Dronova
	Daria Malkova
	Mariia Miliaeva
	Mariia Novolodskaya
10	Belarus	0:04:29.410
	Alena Amialiusik
	Palina Pivavarava
	Ina Savenka
	Karalina Savenka
11	Ukraine	0:04:35.153
	Kseniia Fedotova
	Yuliia Biriukova
	Oksana Kliachina
	Ganna Solovei

Elite Men Team Pursuit Qualifying
Pos.	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Denmark	0:03:50.723
	Lasse Norman Hansen
	Julius Johansen
	Frederik Rodenberg Madsen
	Rasmus Pedersen
2	Italy	0:03:53.145
	Simone Consonni
	Filippo Ganna
	Francesco Lamon
	Davide Plebani
3	France	0:03:53.528
	Thomas Denis
	Corentin Ermenault
	Valentin Tabellion
	Benjamin Thomas
4	Switzerland	0:03:54.111
	Claudio Imhof
	Valere Thiebaud
	Stefan Bissegger
	Robin Froidevaux
5	Huub Wattbike Test Team	0:03:54.562
	John Archibald
	Daniel Bigham
	William Perrett
	Jonathan Wale
6	Russian Federation	0:03:54.820
	Nikita Bersenev
	Lev Gonov
	Ivan Smirnov
	Kirill Sveshnikov
7	Germany	0:03:55.187
	Felix Gross
	Theo Reinhardt
	Leon Rohde
	Domenic Weinstein
8	Great Britain	0:03:56.425
	Matthew Walls
	Mark Stewart
	Steven Burke
	Ethan Vernon
9	Belgium	0:03:57.722
	Kenny de Ketele
	Robbe Ghys
	Rune Herregodts
	Fabio van den Bossche
10	United States	0:03:59.008
	John Croom
	Gregory Daniel
	Gavin Hoover
	Ashton Lambie
11	Belarus	0:04:00.062
	Raman Tsishkou
	Hardzei Tsishchanka
	Yauheni Akhramenka
	Yauheni Karaliok
12	Poland	0:04:01.684
	Bartosz Rudyk
	Filip Prokopyszyn
	Szymon Sajnok
	Daniel Staniszewski
13	Lokosphinx	0:04:02.195
	Savva Novikov
	Sergey Malnev
	Arseny Nikiforov
	Alexandr Smirnov
14	Ukraine	0:04:05.866
	Volodymyr Dzhus
	Vitaliy Hryniv
	Vladyslav Shcherban
	Maksym Vasyliev
15	Track Team Brandenburg	0:04:13.864
	Richard Banusch
	Franz Gross
	Pierre-Pascal Keup
	Sebastian Schmiedel