Team GB have won team pursuit gold for the third Olympic Games in a row, setting a new World Record in the process – but Australia pushed them all the way in the final in Rio tonight. The victory means that Sir Bradley Wiggins moves ahead of Sir Chris Hoy as the country’s most decorated Olympian.

The Australian quartet went out quickly, and at one point led the British riders by seven tenths of a second.

When they lost their fourth man with more than a kilometre remaining, a Team GB win looked a formality, with the defending champions now in front.

But inside the final two laps the British riders, by now down to three after Wiggins had swung off, were struggling to keep together.

In a storming final lap, it was Team GB who prevailed as Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Ed Clancy crossed the line together to win.

Earlier, Team GB’s male track sprinters put in a storming performance in qualifying for the individual sprint, Callum Skinner setting a new Olympic record which lasted just minutes as the final man out, team mate Jason Kenny who is the defending champion, went quicker.

 

 

 

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