Olympics-Cycling-Gold at last as United States win women's team pursuit

By Martyn Herman

SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) - The United States won the gold medal in the Olympic track cycling women's team pursuit for the first time as they beat New Zealand in the final on Wednesday.

Britain defeated Italy to take the bronze medal.

For American Kristen Faulkner it was her second gold medal of the Games after she won the women's road race.

Faulkner and team mates Jennifer Valente, Lily Williams and former road time trial world champion Chloe Dygert built up a healthy lead and victory looked a formality.

They struggled to stay together in the final laps, however, and there were anxious moments as New Zealand closed the gap before the U.S. clinched victory in a time of 4:04.306 ahead of the Kiwis in 4:04.927.

There were emotional scenes at the finish as the Americans celebrated having been runners-up in 2012 and 2016 and third at the 2020 Games.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)