Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner will aim for her second gold medal of the Paris Games with U.S. teammates Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente, and Lilly Williams as they compete against New Zealand in the finals of the women’s team pursuit on Wednesday night.
The Americans have never won this event, having previously earned silver twice and bronze once in past editions.
In their semifinal match against the world champion team from Britain, the U.S. built a nearly half-second lead halfway through the 4,000-meter race at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Dygert took the lead for the final lap, and the Olympic time trial bronze medalist managed to keep her team in front until the end.
The U.S. finished with a time of 4 minutes, 4.629 seconds, while the British team of Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris, and Jessica Roberts completed the race in 4:04.908. This result sent the British team into a bronze-medal match against Italy.
New Zealand’s team, consisting of Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, and Nicole Shields, who nearly broke the world record in qualifying earlier, finished in 4:04.818, beating the Italian team by nearly three seconds.
In the men’s team pursuit finals on Wednesday night, the Australian team of Sam Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy, and Kellen O’Brien will attempt to set a new world record as they compete for gold against the British team of Ethan Hayter, Oliver Wood, Ethan Vernon, and Charlie Tanfield.
World champion Denmark and reigning Olympic champion Italy will compete for the men’s pursuit bronze.
On the third day of Olympic track cycling, qualifying for the men’s sprint also took place. Each rider had about two laps to gain speed and then tried to cover 200 meters—just under a full lap of the velodrome—as quickly as possible.
