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Australia fastest in men’s Team Pursuit qualification
Australia put in a brilliant performance in the men’s team pursuit to take the lead in the qualification heats, setting a near-world record of 3:42.958. Kelland O’Brien dropped off after 2750 metres and screamed at teammates Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy, and Sam Welsford from the sidelines as they hurtled toward a near-world record, but landed 0.926 shy of Italy’s Tokyo record.
Great Britain’s quartet of Ethan Hayter, Ollie Wood, Dan Bigham and Ethan Vernon put in a strong ride with a time of 3:43.241 to qualify for the first round.
Denmark struggled in comparison to their team from the Tokyo Olympics, hitting out with the fastest first 3,000 metres but fading in the final kilometre. The team switched up their roster in the past three years with Niklas Larson and Rasmus Pedersen remaining but Tobias Hansen and Carl-Fredrik Bevort replacing Lasse Norman Hansen and Fredrik Rodenberg. They came through 0.449 seconds slower than Great Britain.
Italy had a shocking miscue past the halfway point of their 4km effort, with Francesco Lamon pulling off and Simone Consonni struggling to get onto the wheels of Jonathan Milan and Filippo Ganna. They finished off the pace in fourth but qualified for the first round and can make up for the mistake.
The hometown crowd went wild for the French foursome, with Thomas Boudat, Benjamin Thomas, Thomas Denis and the only non-Tom, Valentin Tabellion, tucked in behind Britain in the standings with a 3:45.514.
New Zealand’s Aaron Gate, Tom Sexton, Campbell Stewart and Keegan Hornblow put in a solid ride to qualify to move on, finishing just a tenth of a second slower than France with a 3:45.616.
Belgium set a solid first time, coming just five seconds from the world record with a 3:47.232 as conditions on the track were incredibly fast, even the loss of…
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