Team GB cyclists win two more golds
Team GB’s cyclists win two more gold medals as Pendleton and the pursuit team pedal to glory.
Victoria Pendleton overcame the disappointment of relegation from the women’s team pursuit yesterday to dominate her arch rival Anna Meares.
She finished the race first with China’s Shuang Guo in second and Wai Sle Lee of Hong Kong in third. Australian Meares finished in fifth.
In the men’s team pursuit Team GB’s cycling team won gold and broke the world record they had set the day before. They completed the final in 3 minutes, 51.659 seconds – 0.8 of a second ahead of the silver-medal winning Australians.
Pendleton was competing in the keirin, an eight-lap race the first five-and-a-half laps of which are speed-controlled by a motorised bike. With two-and-a-half laps to go the motorised bike moves to the centre of the velodrome and the cyclists sprint for victory.
At the start of the men’s team pursuit race Team GB was riding at around half a second ahead of the Australians.
The Australians clawed their way back into the race, cutting the lead to 0.2 of a second. But then Team GB started to push away, increasing the lead to 0.7 of a second at the midway point.
At the three-quarters point they were one and a half seconds ahead of the Australians.
Qualification domination
Team GB’s male cycling pursuit team comprises Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh. In qualification the team dominated, breaking their own world record by nearly a second.
The team recorded a time of 3 minutes, 52.499 seconds – beating the record they set at the Melbourne World Championships in April this year.
In the semi-final today the team won their heat with a time of three minutes, 52.743 seconds, setting up the final against Australia.
Photo Gallery: Catch up on Team GB’s medal winning athletes.
Cycling glory
Yesterday Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes picked up Team GB’s first cycling gold in the men’s team sprint, and broke the world record at the same time.
In the women’s team pursuit qualification the Team GB cyclists, comprising Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell, broke their own world record with a time of three minutes, 15.669 seconds.
