Australia have won a bronze medal in the men’s team sprint, continuing a successful night at a fast France velodrome when the men’s pursuit team also broke the world record.
The sprint team of Matthew Glaetzer, Leigh Hoffman and Matthew Richardson edged hosts France by 0.396 seconds in the bronze medal race on Wednesday morning (AEST) to secure a podium finish.
The overarching favourites, the Netherlands, won gold in a world-record 40.949, defeating Great Britain by almost a second.
The victory will be extra sweet for Glaetzer, who will retire after his fourth Olympics and had placed fourth at every time of asking over his previous three Games.
It followed a devastating team pursuit heat, during which Sam Welsford, Kelland O’Brien, Conor Leahy and Oliver Bleddyn clocked 4:40.730 to comfortably beat reigning Olympic champions Italy.
The win not only set them up for a gold-medal race against Great Britain on Wednesday, but also broke the world mark of 3:42.032 set by Italy in Tokyo three years ago.
More to come.
Matthew Glaetzer finally wins that elusive medal.Credit: AP
Source Agencies
