Rio track racing, night 3: GB women triumph in team pursuit

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) — Great Britain, the 2012 Olympic champion in the women’s team pursuit, delivered a record-breaking ride in the Rio velodrome Saturday to defend the title and claim gold once again. Team GB completed a sweep in the event after the men’s victory Friday despite the best efforts of a young American quartet that took silver.

Elis Ligtlee of the Netherlands, however, managed to deny the Brits of a second Olympic victory minutes later in the women’s keirin final, capping off quite a show for Dutch trackies in Rio Saturday; Ligtlee’s compatriot Laurine van Riessen had managed to pull off one of the most impressive bike-handling feats on the track this year in the earlier rounds to avoid a crash.

Great Britain smashes world record to win women’s team pursuit over U.S.

Britain smashed its own world record to win Olympic gold in the women’s team pursuit. It was the third time in the space of 48 hours that the quartet of Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker, and Joanna Rowsell-Shand had set a new world mark in the 4km race. The 2012 London Olympic champions beat a world-champion American team by more than two seconds in the final at the Olympic velodrome.

The U.S. had briefly taken the world record in their morning semifinal but Britain, who first broke it on Thursday, improved on that in both their semifinal and final.

“In the semifinal we rode more within ourselves, the girls came off the track saying that was about 80%,” said Rowsell-Shand, who as part of the winning team four years ago alongside Trott and Danielle …

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