New Zealand track cyclists have had to settle for the silver medal in the women's team pursuit at the Paris Olympics.
The Kiwi quartet of Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields and Ally Wollaston could not keep pace with the United States in the gold medal ride at Saint-Quinten-en-Yvelines Velodrome on Wednesday (Thursday NZ Time).
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The Kiwis quickly fell behind by more than a second as the Americans chased a world record time. The gap extended to 1.306 seconds at the 2000m mark and 1.543 seconds after 3000m.
However, after both groups dropped to three riders, the USA almost lost their third rider, with a gap developing in their racing line.
New Zealand were closing over the last two laps by the Americans, featuring women's road race gold medallist Kristen Faulkner, had created enough of a lead to hold on by 0.621 seconds at the gun.
The Kiwis' time of 4 minutes 04.927 seconds was just a tick under their semifinal time, and also slower than their 4:04.679 in qualifying on Tuesday, which saw them move into the medal rides as the top team.
Earlier, New Zealand demolished Italy in the semifinals in the first session.
New Zealand, the fastest qualifier, were timed at 4:04.818 in their semifinal and finished easing down as it was clear they had outridden the Italians. Italy, fourth in qualifying, finished their semifinal ride in 4:07.191.
Several other New Zealanders were involved in action in the early session on Wednesday.
Ellesse Andrews showed her class by winning a tight race in the first heat of the women’s keirin, edging out the French and British riders on the line to move directly into the quarterfinals.
Rebecca Petch, the other New Zealand keirin rider, was outmaneuvered over the closing stages and finished fifth in her heat and needed to ride in the repechage round. There she finished second in her race behind Canadian Lauriane Genest, with the first two going through to the quarterfinals.
Andrews, who claimed a silver medal in the keirin at the Tokyo Olympics and won the world title in 2023, said she was happy with her first race.
"It was a great race and I was super-happy with the execution," she said. "I had a clear plan and remained calm. It's nice to go through in one race and to gain a little bit of confidence."
The New Zealand men's team of Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Keegan Hornblow and Tom Sexton defeated France with ease to finish fifth in the men's team pursuit.
The quartet clocked 3:44.741 to win by 2.956 seconds as the French fell apart over the last 1000m. Their time was good for fourth on Wednesday as Denmark also finished shoddily in the ride for bronze against Italy.
“We left absolutely everything out on the track tonight and we will take being fifth ranked in the world," Gate said. “I know the boys can regroup in four years and get the job done.”
In the men’s sprint, Sam Dakin was timed at 9.470 seconds in the qualifying ride, which gave him 14th spot, with 24 riders advancing.
Dakin lost his next ride, beaten by Poland's Rudyk Mateusz by 0.020 seconds and then had to hope to win his repechage to progress to the round of 16. However, he dipped out in the repechage and will now focus on his favoured keirin event.