Great Britain’s hopes of gold in the men’s team pursuit at Paris 2024 slipped away in dramatic fashion on the last lap of the final as Ethan Hayter lost control of his bike and narrowly avoided a crash.
The 1,000th medal in Team GB’s Olympic history was a silver one after Hayter slipped forward trying to power out of a corner, finishing the race legs askew, sat on his top tube as Australia took their first title in this prestigious event since Athens in 2004.
Britain’s 1,001st medal arrived a little under an hour later as the women’s team pursuit delivered bronze, storming back late on to beat Italy and claim a strong result in the absence of the injured Katie Archibald.
The men’s team, seeking to reclaim the crown they held for so long before it all went wrong in Tokyo, were left to wonder what might have been.
Hayter lined up with Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield and Ethan Vernon in the final, with Ollie Wood dropping out, and they stayed in touching distance of an Australian team that broke the world record in Tuesday’s first round – until Hayter’s slip.
“We were so close and I could see it,” said Hayter, who will return in Thursday’s omnium. “It was nearly five laps at the end and I just really gave too much, and my whole body went weak and I really struggled to hold myself on the bike in the end.
“Sorry to the guys but I think we gave everything and we can be proud of that silver medal.”
Bigham, still feeling the impact of a training crash on Friday, admitted Hayter’s strength was such that GB had recalibrated their tactics in a bid to maximise it, only to push the 25-year-old too far.
“We gave him half a lap too much (on the front) and he literally found the limit and slipped off the saddle,” Bigham said.
Three years ago Tanfield was the one making headlines for the wrong reasons after being drafted in at the last minute before being involved in a bizarre first-round crash that ended medal hopes in Tokyo.
“(Ethan’s) done an amazing ride, there’s no way around it, and he can still be proud of what he’s done tonight,” the Yorkshireman said. “He can’t be down. He had to put it on the line. It’s one of those things.”
Silver remains a significant achievement given those events in Tokyo and all that has come since. Tanfield almost quit after those Games while Bigham, who went to Tokyo working for rivals Denmark, forced his way back in to make his Olympic debut aged 32.
Likewise, bronze was a strong result for Elinor Barker , Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jess Roberts in the women’s event given Britain’s plans were ripped up six weeks ago when two-time Olympic champion Archibald slipped in her garden and shattered her ankle.
The Team GB quartet were behind Italy for much of the race but Knight dragged them back in the finale to win by two and a half seconds.
“It means a huge amount,” said Knight, Archibald’s housemate. “Six weeks ago when I arrived back at my house and Katie wasn’t there because she was in A&E it really felt like the Olympic dream had gone down the drain a little bit.
“We’ve had to come up with a new strategy and we’ve nailed it and come away with an Olympic medal and I think that’s all we could ask for.”
The United States took gold, a second gold medal for Kristen Faulkner after Sunday’s road race.
Emma Finucane breezed through to Thursday’s quarter-finals of the keirin, with Katy Marchant advancing via the repechages.
Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull both made it through to the quarter-finals of the men’s sprint, with Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen breaking the world record for a flying lap with a time of 9.088 seconds in qualifying.
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