Record-breaking Brits win third track cycling gold at Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Women's team pursuit squad set new world best as they dethrone USA; Elis Ligtlee wins keirin for Netherlands
The Great British women's team pursuit riders celebrate another gold on Saturday (Photo: Getty Images/Bryn Lennon)
Great Britain's track cycling team flexed their muscles again on day three of the action at the Rio Olympic Velodrome, winning their third gold medal of the Olympic Games.
The women's team pursuit squad of Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand beat world champions the USA, to add to the men's team sprint and men's pursuit team golds the Brits had already bagged.
“We felt like a machine, a well-run machine come together really well,” said Trott.
Britain won seven of the 10 gold medals up for grabs at the London 2012 Games, and the country has now won three of the five titles so far contested in Rio.
The British women's pursuit team trailed the Americans after the first quarter of the race, but had pulled ahead by nearly a second by the midway point. They cruised from there to finish in four minutes and 10.236 seconds, breaking the world record they set in the semi-final round.
The British riders on their way to team pursuit gold (Photo: Getty Images/Lars Baron)
The US team of Kelly Catlin, Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Sarah Hammer took silver in 4:12.454, while Canada beat New Zealand for bronze in 4:14.627.
With the crowd still riled up, Dutch rider Elis Ligtlee managed to hold off the charging Becky James of Britain in the women's keirin. James took silver and Anna Meares of Australia took bronze.
Ligtlee went to the front on the final lap of the six-rider sprinting event, while James was last in the field. But she took to the outside through the first and second corners and overcame three of her rivals down the backstretch, putting a charge into the heavily British crowd.
However, the extra distance of riding outside proved to be a bit too much to overcome, and Ligtlee held on during the drag-race to the finish line, giving the Netherlands another cycling medal to go with the three won by Anna van der Breggen and Tom Dumoulin on the road.
James was content with silver in the event retired countrywoman Victoria Pendleton won four years ago, while Meares walked away with her sixth Olympic medal in track cycling.
Ligtlee celebrates winning gold for the Netherlands (Photo: Getty Images/Lars Baron)
