Germany smashes team pursuit world record in Olympic qualifying

The word ahead of the track events at the Tokyo Olympics was that the Izu Velodrome was fast. That was proven correct on the first day of competition with Germany smashing the women’s team pursuit world record in qualifying.

Germany posted a scorching time of 4:07.307, nearly three seconds faster than the previous world record of 4:10.236 set five years ago by Team Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Team USA later posted a time of 4:10.118 which was also under the old world record, but nearly three seconds slower than Germany’s new mark. Riding last, Team Great Britain was on pace to break Germany’s new world record but faded in the closing laps to post a 4:09.022 – also faster than the old record but nearly two seconds down on Germany.

Round 1 of the women’s team pursuit final will be held on Tuesday afternoon, followed by the finals that evening.

Qualifying for the men’s team pursuit will be held later this evening ahead of the first round on Tuesday evening and the final on Wednesday evening.