[ad_1]
Track cycling at Tokyo 2020 began with high and world records as Britain was warned its dominance was in jeopardy. None of their gold-medalist team pursuit quartets in Rio qualified the fastest on Monday, with the men fortunate enough to remain in contention to defend their Olympic crown.
But it was a fall from Australian Alex Porter that left the small local crowd, a rarity at these Games, to hold their collective breath. The 25-year-old’s handlebars came off after four turns, sending him flying across the bridge in a serious accident. Thirty minutes later his team had regrouped and were back in action, finishing fifth and coming within a second of ending Britain’s gold medal hopes.
“I guess sport is entertainment, isn’t it,” said Simon Jones, Australia’s head coach. “Hope it was entertaining.”
A rule intended not to punish accidents in qualifying meant Australia was allowed a second attempt after Porter passed concussion protocols. “When you land on your face at 65 km / h, and have half an hour to do it again, it’s absolutely amazing,” said Jones, a former coach of British Cycling and the Ineos Grenadiers. “Talk about the Australian fighting spirit as you stand up. We had a pretty good time as we crashed at a very fast pace.
Porter will receive medical treatment before Australia face Switzerland in the next round on Tuesday. The 2019 world champions can no longer qualify for the gold medal race, the best they can now achieve is bronze.
“The doc checked it out,” Jones said. “We don’t have immediate concerns,” he slipped across his face. He’s not as handsome as he used to be, but he just had some skin on his right arm. He’s really, really lucky.
Despite almost a year and a half without international track cycling, the first day at the Izu Velodrome had to be quick. In the third round of the women’s team pursuit qualifying, Germany broke Britain’s Rio 2016 world record by four seconds, finishing in 4min 07.307sec. Great Britain qualified second, in a time that improved their world record, but far from the German pace.
“We knew the world record was going to be broken and we expected it to be the Australians or the Americans,” said Britain’s Elinor Barker. “It was almost eerily heartwarming that this was happening when we weren’t looking.”
The British team, led by four-time Olympic champion Laura Kenny, will face the United States on Tuesday. If they can beat the Americans, a gold medal game with the Germans or Italy awaits them later today. The remaining teams will race for the fastest times to qualify for the bronze medal race – the Australians, who have been surprisingly slow, are hoping to redeem themselves.
The British must fight to retain their gold in the team pursuit, a crown they have held since the 2008 Olympics. Denmark – which set a world record at the World Track Championships in Berlin on last year – was once again the team to beat, setting an Olympic record five seconds behind the British mark set in Rio. In fourth place, Great Britain faced an anxious wait to see if Australia would roll again. The Australians spent most of their second attempt neck-and-neck with Britain’s time, but eventually disappeared to leave the British as the slowest team still in contention for the gold medal.
Great Britain – who rode with Ed Clancy, Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Oliver Wood on Monday – meet Denmark on Tuesday afternoon, in the race for a place in the final on Wednesday. “We were perfectly prepared for everyone – maybe four or five teams – to break the world record,” said Clancy, who won gold in the team pursuit in Beijing, London and Rio. “On the contrary, I am surprised that more teams don’t go faster, including ourselves.”
Sign up for our Tokyo 2020 briefing with all the news, views and previews from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Clancy and his team broke Denmark’s world record in the first 14 laps, before dropping slightly in the final 500m. “We train for that stuff, we practice it, but it’s kind of like a house of cards – as soon as one thing falls, everything falls apart,” he said. “We kind of stuck it out there pretty much.”
In the competition’s first medal race, China’s Zhong Tianshi successfully defended her team sprint title with new teammate Bao Shanju. The pair broke the world record in their qualifying round, then beat Germany’s Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich. The Russian Olympic Committee won the bronze medal.
Source link
