Australia smash world record in men's team pursuit to set up Olympic final with GB

The Australian men's team pursuit squad broke the world record in the event's first round at the Paris Olympics, and will face Team GB in the final on Wednesday. 

The quartet of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien clocked a time of 3:40.730, taking a staggering 1.3 seconds off the previous benchmark, set by Italy at the Tokyo Olympics. 

GB had come close to Italy’s record of 3:42.032 in their first round heat against Denmark, the world champions, when they rode a 3:42.151.

The two nations will face off in the team pursuit final on 7 August at 17:33 UK time. Australia have not won gold in the men's event since 2004, before a period of domination from the Brits that saw them win the title at the next three Olympics.

"I think it will be fast tomorrow," said Welsford. "It might not be as fast, because we had a bit of a slipstream coming into the last two laps, but I think, with the conditions again and the level of the Olympic final, you're going to find that extra boost.

"The Great Britain boys, I know them all well, they're really good racers, and they really come out flying for these rides. It'll be a good fight tomorrow." 

Australia's team pursuit world record in Paris came moments before the Dutch men's team sprint squad became the first ever to go below 41 seconds in the three-lap event. 

The trio of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland broke their previous world record earlier in the evening with a time of 41.191, before bettering it again in the final with a 40.949, beating the Brits to the gold medal. 

The track in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines witnessed five world records on Monday night, all in the women's team sprint. New Zealand, Germany and Great Britain all took it in turns to beat the benchmark, with the latter breaking it three times on their path to the gold medal. 

With its wide track, the French national velodrome is considered one of the fastest in the world. The conditions in Paris have also been favourable for world-record-breaking, with hot and humid weather keeping the air pressure low. 

Team GB rode without Dan Bigham in the team pursuit first round, the 32-year-old opting to sit it out after what he described as a "pretty big crash" last week.

Bigham came down during an open training session on Friday afternoon, when he swung up the track in a team pursuit change and collided with another rider. He rode the qualifying heat on Monday, but was replaced by Charlie Tanfield in the first round, in a quartet that also included Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood. 

"[I] have been doing my best to recover quickly, so hopefully another 24 hours of rest does the trick," Bigham wrote on his Instagram account.