Great Britain’s team pursuit squads added two medals to the Paris 2024 haul as an impressive week in the velodrome continued.
Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Dan Bigham and Ethan Vernon earned silver in the men’s race, beaten by world record holders Australia after Hayter suffered a slip off the saddle in the closing stages with just two hundredths of a second between the two nations.
Their medal is the 1,000th earned by Team GB across summer and winter Olympics and that quickly became 1,001 as Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts launched a stirring fightback to win bronze.
The British quartet were more than a second behind at one stage but roared back to come home more than two seconds clear of their Italian opponents and earn Team GB’s fourth consecutive women’s team pursuit medal.
"That was a surreal moment [receiving a bronze medal] and to do it with my friends is so special," she said. "We put together three really good rides and we can be really happy with that."
The men’s race looked set for a thrilling conclusion heading into the closing stages until the unfortunate saddle malfunction.
Absolutely textbook.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 7, 2024
Italy took a lead of over a second at around the halfway mark before we brought it back to win by more than two seconds. An expert performance and a much deserved medal for this team 👏👏
Chapeau Elinor Barker, Anna Morris, Josie Knight, Jess Roberts! 🥉 https://t.co/mLEN42p5Xs pic.twitter.com/GRVfMJJaqI
Hayter is the real engine of the team pursuit, asked to carry the load. It is a tactic that took Britain to a world title on this very track in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines two years ago.
On this occasion though, Hayter actually went above and beyond, slipping off his saddle with half remaining and two tenths of a second still to make up.
He said: “It was quite a long way for me to go, nearly five laps at the end. I had the race in my hands a bit, it was what we wanted. I literally tied up, I went pretty deep and my arms went weak and I fell off.
“I don’t know how I didn’t crash. We really took it to them, we maybe could have paced it a little bit better but we definitely left it all out on the line, that’s the deepest I’ve gone in a while.”
The silver marked a superb response to seventh in Tokyo, when Tanfield was part of a dramatic crash.
Wow, that was nail-bitingly close throughout!
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 7, 2024
The team did brilliantly to put themselves in a position to win gold and pushed the world record holders Australia all the way.
Congratulations Ethan Vernon, Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Hayter & Ollie Wood 🥈👏 https://t.co/5j93hOmGsK pic.twitter.com/3M4AT4j43f
He said: “Tokyo was a low point in my career and it was really difficult for me to carry on in the sport after that. I didn’t know what I was going to do afterwards.
"I’m really glad I tried and kept on going. It has been a really long journey to even make it back into the squad again.
"These guys won World Champs and I wasn’t there. It has been a battle and I’m glad I could even make the start line, let alone do the race. A silver medal, for me, is great.”
Elsewhere in the evening session, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin booked their place in the quarter-finals of the men’s individual sprint.
They each did so by narrow margins, requiring photo finishes to see off Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev and Nicholas Paul of Trinidad and Tobago respectively.
The pair will be back on the track on Thursday for the quarter-finals.
Sportsbeat 2024