TEAM GB shattered the world record THREE times as they secured women’s team sprint gold in devastating style.
In fact, the world’s best time was broken FIVE times in total on a thrilling opening night at the sweltering Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome.
But it was Team GB who had the last laugh, securing their first track gold of Paris 2024 and moving a third of the way to matching their Tokyo tally of three velodrome golds.
Supermum Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and new superstar Emma Finucane came from behind to beat New Zealand by nearly half a second in the final.
The trio lined up together in the women’s team sprint – a 750m, three-lap, three-rider race where the leader dips out after lap one and then the second rider does the same after lap two to leave the anchor to finish on their own.
A new Olympic record was guaranteed from Canada on the very first attempt in qualifying because of the 2021 format change from two riders doing two laps since the Tokyo Games.
New Zealand then broke it as they threatened to smash the world record immediately afterwards.
But up stepped the Brits, who went even faster than the Kiwis and did set the best time ever with a lightning 45.472 seconds at an average speed of 59.377km/h – beating China’s previous best by 0.015 seconds.
GB’s time saw them seeded top for the first round, where they faced Canada.
The pressure was on to reach the final when both Germany (45.377) and then New Zealand (45.348) clocked world records in back-to-back races.
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But Team GB secured their second world record of the night and the third in three sprints with a 45.338 time that booked a gold medal showdown with the Kiwis.
And after trailing by +0.133 after lap one, Capewell turned the race on its head to hand over to Finucane.
Marchant turned on the afterburners for the final 250m to cross in 45.186 seconds and clinch gold with a clean sweep of world records from their three efforts last night.
The triumph boosted Team GB’s hopes of finishing in the top five nations overall at this summer’s Games, which end on Sunday.
And British cycling legend Victoria Pendleton told the BBC: “I could see they were going to win. I am so happy for them, I actually feel quite emotional.
“Absolutely fantastic. Such a beautiful performance. It was powerful, it was confident.
“To then break the world record, they haven’t just broken it today, they have smashed it. 45.186, that is incredible.
“It has finally put to bed the fact that the women’s sprint side of the cycling side is weakest.”
Earlier, Germany stunned the Netherlands to snatch the sprint-trip bronze medal.
Mexico beat China in the play-off for fifth-spot.
And Poland pipped Canada in the battle to see who finished seventh and eighth.
