GB claim Olympic silver in men's team sprint as Netherlands break world record twice to take gold

Great Britain’s trio of Jack Carlin, Hamish Turnbull and Ed Lowe took a hugely impressive silver medal in the men’s team sprint final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday evening, after a world record breaking ride from the Netherlands saw them fly to gold. 

Roy van den Berg, Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen broke their own world record twice on one night on the way to winning the contest. The Dutch set a time of 41.191 in the first round to smash their previous time set in Tokyo three years ago. 

They then sensationally broke the 41 second barrier for the first time in history to record the fastest ever time in the event. The Dutch came in at 40.949 with GB clocking in at 41.814. 

Speaking post-race, Carlin said that GB initially came into the games "expecting third" with many predicting the Dutch would dominate. 

"We’ve executed three really solid rides there," Carlin said. "I think we can be proud of that as a team, we knew we were up against it coming into it, but stuck to our processes. 

"We focused, knuckled down, it’s these first two’s Olympics and I think both of them stepped up to the occasion and they’ve got a medal to show for it."

Carlin highlighted that Lowe and Turnbull were both making their Olympic debut in the event in Paris. The Scotsman heaped praise on both of his teammates and said he was "proud" of their performance. 

"To be honest, we came here expecting to fight for third," Turnbull added as he reflected on the trio’s silver medal winning ride. "As soon as we got into that gold final, all the stress was off. We tried to express what we could do and enjoy it."

Later this week, Carlin is set to ride the keirin and will go for gold in the men’s individual sprint. 

The two record times from the Dutch marked the seventh and eighth world records set at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines since the track events began at the games on Monday. Australia smashed the sixth world record in the men's team pursuit after five world records were set on the first evening of competition, all in the women's team sprint. Great Britain broke the record three times on the way to winning gold. 

Australia take edge into men's team pursuit final

Great Britain will go up against Australia in the final of the men’s team pursuit on Wednesday evening after breaking the world record time in the event’s first round. 

Sam Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien set a remarkable time of 3:40,730, 1.3 seconds quicker than the previous record which was set by Italy at the Tokyo Olympics.

Due to feeling the effects of a "pretty big crash" late last week, Dan Bigham did not appear as part of the GB team and was replaced by Charlie Tanfield. The Great Britain quartet of Tanfield, Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood very nearly took the record from Italy when they clocked 3:42.151. 

GB and Australia will go head to head for gold at 17:33 GMT on Wednesday. The Aussie’s will look to reclaim gold after GB have dominated the event at the last three games. 

Australia last took gold in Athens in 2004.

GB qualify third in women's team pursuit

Great Britain qualified in third place in the women’s team pursuit to make the cut for the first round taking place on Wednesday. 

Elinor Barker, Anna Morris, Jess Roberts and Josie Knight set a national record of 4:06.710 to ensure they remain in the hunt for a medal. Knight’s push in the final 750 metres ensured that GB finished just two seconds off the fastest time of 4:04.679, which was set by New Zealand. 

The first round heats on Wednesday will decide who later races for gold. 

"I’m really happy," said Barker afterwards. "I think that was a great time, it’s a national record, can’t go too wrong with that. When you see the time New Zealand just did, we knew we would have to focus on ourselves, hit our processes and make sure we’re still in medal contention."

"We know the track is riding really quick so we expected fast times," Knight added. "But like El said, we focused on ourselves and did the best ride we could do, and I think we got that out."

The best reigning champions Germany can hope for is bronze after a disappointing display saw them finish in fifth in qualifying after clocking a time of 4:08.313. 

The track cycling will continue on Wednesday with a stacked schedule in the velodrome. The men’s and women’s team pursuit finals will undoubtedly provide the highlights of the day in the evening. 

Elsewhere the men’s sprint qualifying and 1/32 round and women’s keirin first round will also take place.