Team pursuit will be the second of the track cycling disciplines to hand out a medal at the 2024 Paris Games. The men saw the qualification round take place on Monday, while the women will take the track on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
How does team pursuit work
Paris is the 26th time the team pursuit has been raced at the Olympics. A total of ten teams enter the competition. First, the qualification round acts as a time trial where teams race on the track solo and the eight fastest teams advance to the first round. The qualifying round seeds teams one through eight based on their time, so that the fastest team faces the slowest team in the first round, the second fastest faces the second slowest etc.
The results from the first round determine who will race for gold and who will head to a placement race. Teams must win their first round race to advance to a medal race. Teams that lose will race for placement. Then, the times from the first round dictate which race a team will race in. The winners with the two fastest times will race for gold, while the winners with the slowest times will race for bronze. The losers of the first round follow the same principle for 5th/6th place race and the 7th/8th place race.
The men’s and women’s team pursuit will award medals on Wednesday August 7th.
Who to watch in the women’s pursuit
Paris will be the 4th time the women’s team pursuit will compete at the Olympics.
The United States has won a medal in all three Olympics in which the event has been contested. Kristen Faulkner will look to add to her gold medal after surprising in the women’s road race. She will be joined by Chloe Dygert, Lily Williams and Jennifer Valente. Dygert won bronze in the women’s road time trials event but had a disappointing road race finish after crashing. This will be the first event for track cyclists Williams and Valente.
The Americans will look to avenge their 2024 Track Nation Cup races after not making it out of the qualify rounds at any of the races.
This will be Valente’s fourth Olympics after winning a gold medal in the women’s omnium and a bronze (Tokyo) and silver (Rio) in women’s team pursuit. Williams was also part of the U.S. squad that won bronze in the women’s team pursuit in Tokyo.
Reigning world champion Great Britain looks to return to the top of the podium after Germany claimed gold in Tokyo. New Zealand enters the Olympic competition on a high after winning the first two stops of the 2024 Track Nations Cup.
SEE MORE: Faulkner stuns with gold medal win in women’s road race
Who to watch in the men’s pursuit
Australia surprised in the qualification round on Monday. They finished with the fastest time on the day and will face Canada in the first round. Despite having lower finishes in the recent season, Australia has finished on the podium in four-straight Olympics.
Italy has won the most gold medals (8), with their win in Tokyo their first in the event since 1960. They look to be strong contenders again behind Filippo Ganna. Italy hasn’t finished lower than runners-up in the three World Championships since their gold medal win in Tokyo. They had a tough qualification round after miscalculating how many riders remained in the race, however they still finished fast enough for a fourth-place finish.
Denmark enters as the reigning world champions. They’ve also won a medal at each of the last two Olympics, including silver in Tokyo. They finished with the third-fastest time in the qualification round.
Great Britain will look to erase a disappointing seventh in Tokyo after crashing in their first round race, it was the first time they didn’t reach the podium since 2004. The Brits have won the most medals (15) in the event and won three straight gold medals from 2008-2016. They finished with the second-overall time in the qualification round.
The United States did not qualify in this discipline for the 2024 Games. The U.S. has won one medal in this event, silver in the 1984 Olympics, however, the last time the U.S. competed in this event was 2000.
SEE MORE: Olympic cycling recap, Aug. 5: Great Britain wins women’s team sprint
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