In the seconds after they won the women’s team sprint Olympic title, Emma Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant posted up separately along the back straight, a bike length apart from each other, and bowed over their handlebars in exhaustion.
They had had to break the world record three times to win in Paris. In beating New Zealand in the final, they became Team GB’s first-ever medal winners in the event, one which the team hasn’t qualified for since London 2012.