The Australian men’s team sprinters missed out on the bronze medal as the drama continued at Izu Velodrome on day two of Olympic track cycling.
The Australian team pursuiters, whose shock equipment failure in qualifying put them out of contention for the gold medal, might yet ride off for the bronze.
Denmark was on the verge of qualifying for the men’s team pursuit gold medal ride when one of their riders crashed into the rear British competitor, who had dropped well off their paceline.
An hour after that final heat, race judges were still trying to work out what should happen and the medal rides had not been determined.
Officially, Australia posted the third-fastest ride in the pursuit heats behind Italy and New Zealand.
Italy rode three minutes 42.307 seconds to break the world record in their heat win over New Zealand, who also went under the old mark with 3:42.397.
Australia replaced Alex Porter, who face-planted into the track when his handlebars snapped off in qualifying, with Luke Plapp and he combined with Sam Welsford, Leigh Howard and Kelland O’Brien to post a time of 3:44.092.
In the men’s team sprint, Australians Matt Richardson, Nathan Hart and Matt Glaetzer fell to France in the bronze medal ride-off.
After riding 42.371 seconds to qualify third-fastest and then going 42.103 in their heat win, again the third-quickest time, the Australian combination of Matt Richardson, Nathan Hart and Matt Glaetzer then could only managed 44.013 as the French won with 42.331.
The Dutch were the team to beat and they reduced the Olympic record to 41.369 as they easily beat Great Britain’s 44.589.
The Australian women’s team pursuiters also missed out on the bronze medal, finishing fifth.
They improved markedly on their second-last qualifying time on Monday, but it was only enough for fifth-fastest in the heats and that put them out of the bronze medal ride.
Annette Edmondson, Georgie Baker, Maeve Plouffe and Alex Manly narrowly beat Italy in the ride-off for fifth place, their same result as the Rio Olympics.
Germany broke the world record again – the fourth time it has fallen in the last two days – beating Great Britain for the gold medal.
The Germans reduced the world mark to 4:04.242 to break the British stranglehold on the event.
The United States, coached by Australian Gary Sutton, beat Canada for the bronze medal.
AAP
