After an eventful two days of racing, the women’s team pursuit wrapped up on Wednesday with the American women guaranteed a gold or silver medal. The U.S. women’s squad almost lost it on the final 500m of the race, but recovered to win gold over New Zealand with a time of 4:04.306.
Gold medal race: United States vs. New Zealand
The Americans had never won the women’s team pursuit but have medaled each time the race has been offered at the Olympics. That changed when the team of Kristen Faulkner, Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams beat New Zealand for gold.
The U.S. had a messy start but recovered by the 500m mark to gain the lead, they’d have a 1.2 second lead at the halfway mark. The U.S. dropped to three riders before the 2500m mark, when Dygert took the front position for the Americans. With a 1000m to go the U.S. had a 1.543 second lead over New Zealand.
Disaster almost struck for the Americans when Kristen Faulkner started to lose pace near the 3500m mark. She made her Olympic debut in the event after having won gold in the women’s road race earlier in the Games. The U.S. adapted and changed tactics after pushing too hard for the world record. They managed to recover and hold on to the lead to cross the finish line with a time of 4:04.306, the fastest time of the championship. Faulkner adds to her gold medal in the road race while Dygert adds to her bronze medal in the road time trials event.
New Zealand finished six tenths behind the Americans for the silver medal, their best finish at the Olympics in women’s team pursuit.
Bronze medal race: Great Britain vs. Italy
In the bronze medal race, Italy was looking for its first medal in this discipline. The Brits entered the race having gone three seconds faster than Italy in earlier rounds.
Great Britain didn’t have a good start and Italy led by half a second at the 1000m mark. They led by nearly a second at the 2000m mark. It looked like the Brits were going to run out of time to catch Italy, but Great Britain’s veteran squad didn’t panic.
With less than a kilometer to go, Great Britain was down by sixth tenth of a second, that’s when Great Britain put on a master class in comebacks. Behind Elinor Barker, the Brits took the lead at the 3625m mark. They didn’t lead long, but they made it count, they finished 2.5 seconds ahead of Ital for the bronze medal with a time of 4:06.382. Great Britain has medaled every time this race has been competed, including two golds, a silver and now the bronze.
Placement race results
Germany vs. France
The roar of the crowd set the scene for Germany and France. Germany was disappointed to be racing for fifth place after they won gold in Tokyo. Their Games would end on a low note as France capitalized on a tactical error by Germany to win the fifth-place race.
The race started as planned for Germany who led France by half a second or more for the first 1500m of the race. France closed it back within 3 hundredths of a second at the 2150m mark. In a pivotal moment of the race, Germany chose to have Mieke Kroger lead the quartet of racers for four laps. It was too long, as France led by the 2500m mark.
France dominated the back half of the race and led by over a second entering the final lap. France finished with a national record time of 4:06.987 for fifth, nearly a two second improvement on their personal best.
Australia vs. Canada
The race for seventh place saw Australia lead for the entirety of the race. They’d finish the Paris Games with a time of 4:11.548, good for seventh place.
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