Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant of Team Great Britain compete as they break a New World Record during the Women’s Team Sprint Qualifiers on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
World record for Great Britain in Qualification
Great Britain set a new World and Olympic record of 45.472 seconds in the women’s team sprint during the qualifying round at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome outside Paris.
In the first Olympic race with three riders and 750 metres of flat-out sprinting for the women, Katy Marchant hit out hard on her first lap, but Sophie Capwell appeared to slip slightly out of turn one, but she recovered quickly. With an extra shot of adrenaline, she closed the gap to the early leaders New Zealand and launched Emma Finucane, who put in a blistering final lap to get past the Kiwis.
New Zealand started as the second team and broke the Olympic record at 45.593 seconds.
The British team will face last-placed qualifiers Canada in the first round, while New Zealand will go up against Poland, who came seventh.
Germany, third, will go head to head with Mexico while the Netherlands will face China, who had to overcome a false start and finished a disappointing fifth.
The quickest two times in the first round will determine who races for the gold medal.
