The USA’s Kristen Faulkner, Jen Valente, Lily Williams and Chloe Dygert compete in the women’s team pursuit(Image credit: Getty Images)
New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman and Nicole Shields compete during the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying round at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris(Image credit: Getty Images)
Italy line up to start the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying round at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris(Image credit: Getty Images)
Germany in the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying round at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris(Image credit: Getty Images)
USA in the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying round at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris(Image credit: Getty Images)
Japan in the women’s Team Pursuit qualifying round at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris(Image credit: Getty Images)
First round
For the first time in Olympic history, the United States and New Zealand women will compete for the gold medal in the team pursuit.
The USA’s Kristen Faulkner, Chloé Dygert, Lily Williams and Jen Valente defeated Great Britain’s Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts in the first round to move onto the gold medal final.
New Zealand, with Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields and Ally Wollaston, handily beat Italy’s Chiara Consonni, Martina Fidanza, Vittoria Guazzini, Letizia Paternoster in the 4km effort to join the USA in the gold medal round.
Italy’s time was closely challenged by Germany, who will go up against France for 5th and 6th place, while Canada and Australia have one last race for 7th and 8th places.
The final for the women’s team pursuit takes place at 7 p.m. CET on Wednesday.
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First round results
Heat 1
Row 0 – Cell 1
Row 0 – Cell 2
Row 0 – Cell 3
1
France
4:08.292
5th – 6th places
2
Australia
4:09.975
7th – 8th places
Heat 2
Row 3 – Cell 1
Row 3 – Cell 2
Row 3 – Cell 3
1
Germany
4:07.908
5th – 6th places
2
Canada
4:10.471
7th – 8th places
Heat 3
Row 6 – Cell 1
Row 6 – Cell 2
Row 6 – Cell 3
1
United States of America
4:04.629
Qualified for gold
2
Great Britain
4:04.908
Qualified for bronze
Heat 4
Row 9 – Cell 1
Row 9 – Cell 2
Row 9 – Cell 3
1
New Zealand
4:04.818
Qualified for gold
2
Italy
4:07.491
Qualified for bronze
New Zealand post fastest qualifying time
New Zealand wowed at the Paris Olympics velodrome, setting the fastest time in the women’s team pursuit qualifying round on Tuesday, putting the team in the pole position for the gold medal final.
Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, and Ally Wollaston pushed close to the existing world record set by Germany in the Tokyo Olympics, setting a time of 4:04.679, 0.437 shy of breaking that mark to move onto the first round of competition.
With new road race Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner a new addition to Team USA’s women’s team pursuit squad, their quartet with Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists Chloé Dygert, Jen Valente and Lily Williams powered to the second-fastest time, 4:05.238.
Despite missing Katie Archibald, who suffered a broken leg in a freak accident in June, Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts finished solidly in third with a time of 4:06.710.
Great Britain will face off against the USA in the fight for the gold medal round, and will have to beat their American rivals to move on, or set the third- or fourth-fastest time to qualify for the bronze medal final.
The Italian team with Chiara Consonni, Martina Fidanza, Vittoria Guazzini, Letizia Paternoster slipped into fourth in the rankings ahead of defending champions Germany with a 4:07.579, becoming the final team eligible to race for the gold medals. They will have to beat New Zealand to move on, however.
Still building their momentum after Lisa Brennauer retired after the Tokyo Games, Franziska Brausse, Lisa Klein, Mieke Kröger and Laura Süßemilch moved on to the next round along with the teams from Australia, France and Canada.
Germany will face Canada in the first round, while France and Australia will compete to set the third and fourth-fastest times to be eligible to race in the bronze medal final.
