Monday at Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines saw the start of the track cycling disciplines at the 2024 Paris Games, with three different track cycling events being held: the men’s team pursuit qualifications, the men’s team sprint qualification and the women’s team sprint event in its entirety. 

Great Britain won the first track cycling event at the 2024 Paris Games with a world record time of 45.186 in the women's team sprint.

RESULTS

Gold medal race

History was made as both Great Britain and New Zealand had never won a medal in the women’s team sprint event. Great Britain won gold behind their time of 45.186, a world record.

New Zealand was not considered a medal favorite entering the day, but the team was riding with extra purpose in their hearts. The trio was riding in honor of their teammate Olivia Podmore, a top sprinter on the New Zealand national cycling team until her death by suicide in 2021. Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton and Ellesse Andrews represented New Zealand.

New Zealand had a strong start and led the for the first 250m, but by the 500m mark Great Britain took the lead. Individual sprint champion Emma Finucane’s final lap was nearly half a second faster than New Zealand's. Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell joined Finucane in the gold medal race. Marchant won her second Olympic medal (bronze in women's sprint in 2016) while Finucane and Capewell won their first medal. All three riders will also compete in the women's sprint and women's keirin events.

Finucane made sure to compliment her teammates after the race, "Katy delivered the first lap, Sophie delivered me for the last lap and I literally gave it 120 percent." 

"I literally saw red. I think that's what it takes to win and to break world records, you have to go deeper than your body's ever been before. And I found that, and we all did and we delivered on the day under huge pressure."

Bronze medal race

Germany’s team of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich was likely disappointed to be in the bronze medal race and not racing for gold after going undefeated at the last three world championships. The trio came out fast and kept their lead. New Zealand pushed hard in the final lap, but it wasn’t enough. The Dutch finished fourth in their second straight Olympics. Germany claimed bronze and has finished on the podium every time the women’s team sprint has been contested. Friedrich and Hinze won silver together in the team sprint in Tokyo, while Grabosch won her first Olympic medal.

RESULTS

Paris marks the 26th appearance of the team pursuit in the Olympics. Ten teams raced in the time trial round with eight advancing to the head-to-head first round.

Australia surprised with the fastest time of the day at 3:42.958. The Aussies have finished on the podium for four straight Olympics, having earned bronze in Tokyo.

Australia's Sam Welsford was pleased with the performance.

"The track is so good," she said. "It has been a bit of a surprise to see 42 seconds (3:42.958) to be honest. I was not expecting that. We had a lot more to give at the end of that race."

Expected medal contenders Great Britain, Denmark and Italy rounded out the top four. Olympic champions Italy had a tough qualifying race after a miscalculation with the number of riders remaining, but held on for a fourth-place finish.

France stepped up to the track to a loud applause from the crowd. It’s the first Olympic track appearance from France since 2008 and they finished fifth overall, a great finish for the French. Their time of 3:45.514 was a national record.

Matchups for the first round:
Australia vs. Italy
Great Britain vs. Denmark
France vs. Canada
New Zealand vs. Belgium

RESULTS

Qualification results in the men’s team sprint went as expected. The Netherlands trio of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland, took the top spot in the qualifying round with an Olympic record of 41.279. They averaged a speed of 65.409 km/h (40.6 mph). Great Britain and Australia rounded out the top three.

Matchups for the first round:
Netherlands vs. Canada
Great Britain vs. Germany
Australia vs. China
Japan vs. France

RESULTS

The first of the placement races saw Poland win by half a second over Canada, with a time of 47.175. The win secured seventh place for Poland, while Canada took home eighth. Mexico surprised China with a time of 46.251 win, 0.3 seconds faster than the defending Olympic champions. Mexico claimed the fifth-place finish, its best finish at an Olympic race.

RESULTS

Teams must win their heats to advance to the medal races. Additionally, the top two fastest teams will race for gold, while the two slowest times of the winners will race for bronze. Losing in the first round means the team will race for fifth through eighth place with the same seeding method applied.

The matchups played out as expected in terms of winners and losers. New Zealand upset Germany on time to squeak into the gold medal match. 

The Netherlands finished well ahead of China with a time of 45.798 and defeated the defending champions. Germany easily defeated Mexico in its race with a world record win of 45.377. New Zealand then one-upped Germany’s world record with a time of 45.348 in its win over Poland. 

In the final race, Great Britain again set a new world record with a time of 45.338 for the top time in the first round. Entering the day, cyclists thought there might be a lot of world records broken due to the fast nature of the track. 

Gold medal matchup
Great Britain vs. New Zealand

Bronze medal matchup
Germany vs. Netherlands

5th-6th place race
Mexico vs. China

7th-8th place race
Canada vs. Poland

RESULTS

This is the first Olympic Games where teams are riding with three members instead of two. The qualification round determines seeding for the first round, with the top four finishers facing the bottom four finishers in head-to-head matchups. 

The most surprising note was three-time world champion Germany finished third in the round. Great Britain finished on top, followed by New Zealand. The Netherlands finished fourth to round out the top qualifiers.

China finished a surprising fifth after a false start.

Matchups for the first round: 
Great Britain vs. Canada
New Zealand vs. Poland
Germany vs. Mexico
Netherlands vs. China