Australia takes women’s team pursuit final
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Mar. 25, 2010
- Updated Mar. 25, 2010 at 3:44 PM UTC
Australia’s women’s pursuit team claimed the world title in the 3km event at the world track cycling championships Thursday.
Defending champions Britain finished second to take the silver while New Zealand set a new world mark of 3:21.552sec to win the bronze.
Ashlee Ankudinoff, Sarah Kent and Josephine Tomic had posted a fastest qualifying time of 3:23.161sec for the 12-lap event to secure the gold medal ride-off earlier in the day.
And the trio proved unbeatable again as they surged to an impressive winning time of 3:21.748, just missing out on the new world mark set by their Oceanic rivals minutes earlier in their bronze medal match with the United States.
At last year’s world championships in Poland, British trio Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead had beat New Zealand to the gold, with Australia winning the bronze.
However this year despite making it to the final the trio were left trailing from the outset, and their deficit grew slightly before they finished in a time of 3:22.287.
Both Australia and New Zealand’s finishing time bettered the pre-competition world record of 3:21.875, set by Britain in Manchester in November 2009.
FILED UNDER: News / Track TAGS: UCI Track World Championships