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29th Olympic Games - JO
Beijing, China, August 9-23, 2008
Main Page Results Previous Event Next Event
Event 5 - August 15: Men's Team Sprint Qualifying, Round 1
Brits smash world record
By Laura Weislo
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The team from Great Britain shattered the world record in the men's team sprint qualifying round, becoming the first squad ever to break the 43 second barrier for the three-lap race. Jamie Staff and Jason Kenny put in the fastest two opening laps ever recorded, going 17.198 and 12.555, respectively, setting such a blistering pace that anchorman Chris Hoy had to struggle to hold the wheel of Kenny before taking over for his solo lap. But the last Olympic kilometre time trial champion regained his composure and sealed the sub-43 time with a 13.197 lap.
France, the hot favourite coming into the Olympic Games, was more than a half second behind with a 43.541, while Germany was a surprise third. The defending Olympic champions hadn't shown well in the past few seasons, but hit their stride in Beijing to slip under the Dutch squad with a 44.197.
Australia faltered in the qualifying round, coming fifth, but came good on the first round to beat the Dutch with a 44.090. Their time was strong enough to put them into the bronze medal final with Germany. France subbed out Kevin Sireau for Mickaël Bourgain, but still could not challenge the British, yet still managed to hold off the resurgent Germans to enter the gold medal final by four tenths of a second. The Brits flirted with the 43 second barrier for the second time, but Staff had lost a bit of his snap on the lead lap, and they came in with a 43.034.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Team France take part in a training session.
- Poland's Kamil Kuczynski falls as he competes in th men's team sprint qualifying.
- Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) falls during the men's team sprint qualifying.
- Poland's Kamil Kuczynski hits the deck.
- Team USA rolls in the men's team sprint qualifying.
- Australia's Dan Ellis, Mark French and Shane Kelly (r-l) compete in the men's team sprint qualifying.
- Great Britain's Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy (l-r) in the men's team sprint qualifying. Scotland's Chris Hoy anchored Britain's three-man sprint team to the fastest time in qualifying for the first round of the competition.
- Jamie Staff (Great Britain) rides in the men's team sprint qualifying.
Results
1 Great Britain 42.950 (62.863km/h) Chris Hoy Jason Kenny Jamie Staff 2 France 43.541 Gregory Bauge Kevin Sireau Arnaud Tournant 3 Germany 44.197 Rene Enders Maximilian Levy Stefan Nimke 4 Netherlands 44.213 Theo Bos Teun Mulder Tim Veldt 5 Australia 44.335 Daniel Ellis Mark French Shane Kelly 6 Japan 44.454 Kiyofumi Nagai Tomohiro Nagatsuka Kazunari Watanabe 7 Malaysia 44.725 Mohd Azizulhasni Awang Josiah Ng Mohd Rizal Tisin 8 United States 45.346 Michael Blatchford Adam Duvendeck Giddeon Massie 9 China 45.556 Yong Feng Wenhao Li Lei Zhang 10 Greece 45.645 Athanasios Mantzouranis Vasileios Reppas Panagiotis Voukelatos 11 Czech Republic 45.678 Tomas Babek Adam Ptacnik Denis Spicka 12 Russian Fed 45.964 Sergey Polynskiy Denis Dmitriev Sergey Kucherov 13 Poland 45.266 Maciej Bielecki Kamil Kuczynski Lukasz Kwiatkowski
Round 1
Heat 1
1 Australia 0.44.090 (61.236 km/h)
Ryan Bayley
Daniel Ellis
Mark French
2 Netherlands 0.44.212
Theo Bos
Teun Mulder
Tim Veldt
Heat 2
1 Germany 0.43.699 (61.786 km/h)
Rene Enders
Maximilian Levy
Stefan Nimke
2 Japan 0.44.437
Kiyofumi Nagai
Tomohiro Nagatsuka
Kazunari Watanabe
Heat 3
1 France 0.43.656 (61.847 km/h)
Gregory Bauge
Mickael Bourgain
Kevin Sireau
2 Malaysia 0.44.822
Mohd Azizulhasni Awang
Josiah Ng
Mohd Rizal Tisin
Heat 4
1 Great Britain 0.43.034 (62.741 km/h)
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny
Jamie Staff
2 United States 0.45.423
Michael Blatchford
Adam Duvendeck
Giddeon Massie
