The men’s team pursuit ended with an exhilarating race between Australia and Great Britain. Italy easily defeated Denmark for the bronze medal.

Great Britain looked for redemption against Australia in the gold medal race after a crash in Tokyo left them out of the medal races. But it wasn’t meant to be in Paris as the Australian squad of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien finished over two seconds ahead of Great Britain with a time of 3:42.067 for the gold medal in men's team pursuit. 

"I'm just so proud of the team I'm a part of," O'Brien said after the race. "It's an absolute honor to share the track with those guys, and even more so when you come away with gold.”

"I have so much respect for that [British] team and those guys, so hats off to them for putting on a good show."

FULL RESULTS 

The Brits looked poised to win after leading the entire race until disaster struck on the last lap, Ethan Hayter fell out of turn and there wasn’t enough time to recover. 

"We were so close and I could see it. It was nearly five laps at the end and I just really gave too much, and my whole body went weak and I really struggled to hold myself on the bike in the end," Hayter said.

The two teams came out very even off the start, but Australia held a slight lead after the first lap. Hundredths of a second separated the two teams after 1,000 meters with Great Britain in the lead. At the halfway mark, the Australians had regained the lead for the slight advantage of .140. 

The back half of the race saw Australia in front, but Great Britain threatened. With 1000m to go, the Aussies had just a .183 advantage, but Welsford’s lead lap helped increase it to two tenths of a second. 

With just 250m to go on the bell lap, Australia had a .168 lead on Great Britain when Hayter wobbled. In a race of inches, it was enough to hand Australia the gold medal. 

"Sorry to the guys but I think we gave everything, and we can be proud of that silver medal."

Teammate Charlie Tanfield added: "He just kind of slid a bit. That was that. He did an amazing job. He did so much for the team."

Australia won its first gold medal in men’s team pursuit since 2004, its third ever. The Aussies were perfect in Paris and set a world record against Italy in the first round to make it to the gold medal race. Welsford now has a medal of every color in team pursuit (silver in Rio, bronze in Tokyo), O’Brien won his second Olympic medal (bronze in Tokyo), and Bleddyn and Leahy leave with their first Olympic medals.

There is a silver lining for Great Britain. The Brits won a medal for the sixth time in the last seven Olympics and returned to the podium after missing it in Tokyo.

In a rematch of the Tokyo gold medal race, world champions Denmark faced defending Olympic champions Italy. Italy emerged on top for the bronze medal and now has 13 medals in this event, second to Great Britain.  

Denmark led by a little more than half a second at the 250m mark and at the 1500m mark had a .892 second lead. Filippo Ganna, considered one of the best pursuit riders in the world, took the front spot for Italy, closed the gap.

The quick pace for Denmark may have been too quick as Italy started to surge back around the 3000m, down just four tenths of a second. By 3500m, Italy gained the lead. The Italians could enjoy a victory lap at the end when two of Denmark’s riders fell off in the last kilometer. Italy claimed bronze with a time of 3:44.197, nearly two seconds ahead of Denmark. 

Ganna won his second medal in Paris after winning silver in the men’s road time trial event — he becomes the first Italian to win a medal in road and track cycling at the same Olympics.

New Zealand vs. France 

New Zealand led France end to end in the fifth-place race. New Zealand averaged over a second lead on the host nation throughout the race. They finished with a time of 3:44.741 for fifth place in Paris.

Belgium vs. Canada 

The first of the men’s team pursuit placement races saw an interesting occurrence when Belgium lost its third rider around the 3125m mark. Canada just needed to finish the race, which they struggled to do but ultimately finished with a time of 3:54.517 and claimed seventh at the Olympics.