Words of praise were the only things coming from Australian track sprinters' mouths after their first training session at the Rio 2016 velodrome yesterday (29 July). The cyclists, who have spent the past two weeks training on a similar track in LA, were impressed with the new venue.

First-time Olympian Patrick Constable, 21, told the Australian Olympic Committee: “I think the general consensus is it is a pretty good track, it transitions well, really smooth to ride and they’ve done a good job building it."

New tracks can often have some teething problems that hurt sprint times, however Constable seemed optimistic that the quality of the track will only improve at the Games moves closer.

“The thinking going into this one was the dust may have been an issue as it’s just been constructed, but we’ve come off that session and had no issues,” Constable explained. “That will get better still as we progress to the Olympics. Every track is different to ride but this is definitely a nice one.”

Rio Olympic Velodrome ready for action: cyclists expect fast times on new track

“This track tends to have tighter bends and we’ve been training in LA for the past couple of weeks to get a taste for a track with similar geometry so we’re transitioning pretty well onto this track,” he said.