The men and women’s team pursuits have different histories but similar resonances for Great Britain, having provided the track team’s strongest suits over many years. Since the discipline’s inclusion on the schedule in 2008, the women’s team have been a model of consistency – they are the world, European and Olympic champions – and here again rose to expectations with gold, while the men matched that, to the delight of the home crowd.
If the art of excellence is making the remarkable seem predictable, the Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell and the recent introductions Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald have mastered it. In their past 16 international competitions – World Cups and above – they have missed gold in only three and are unbeaten since January 2011.
After qualifying fastest in this particular World Cup outing they drafted in yet another rising talent, the 25-year-old Ciara Horne, to replace Trott for an exemplary semi-final against the United States, and the final against Australia – with Trott stepping in for Rowsell – was equally decisive, with a time of 4min 22.167sec giving them gold by over 2sec.
The British made a steady start, falling 0.4sec behind in the first kilometre then moving ahead of their opponents on 1500m. As the ‘London roar’ swelled to full ear-shattering volume, they gained inexorably to move almost 1sec clear approaching the final kilometre and a half. A margin of almost 1.5sec with one kilometre remaining looked decisive but the only slightly ragged moment came after Horne pulled off with three laps remaining and Trott, who was not expecting her to sit up, struggled momentarily to make up a few lost metres. “I didn’t realise Ciara was struggling until I changed and then I had to sprint to get back on,” said Trott. “But it worked and the strategy paid off I guess. I wouldn’t say I was nervous. I think we had it under control.”
The measure of the quartet’s dominance was seen in the semi-final against the US. With a 9sec gap on the Americans in qualifying, that meant the catch was always on the cards and they were within sight of them within a kilometre and on their heels by half-distance.
Their male counterparts, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke – gold medallists in London – Andy Tennant and Owain Doull, took a less emphatic route to the final, with fortune stepping in to decide their eventual opponents. They qualified second fastest behind their perennial rivals Australia and then faced Denmark, defeated Olympic finallists in 2008, in the semi-final.
The Danes had qualified less than 0.1sec slower than the British – who looked strong and composed on a track which appeared to be riding slowly – and the semi was as tight as might have been expected, with barely a whisker between the two teams until the final kilometre, when Clancy and company drew ahead to secure a place in the final by less than a fifth of a second.
On paper this looked set to be a second final of the evening between GB and the Australians – Olympic and world championship runners-up to the British in 2012 – and but for a puncture to Luke Davison in their semi-final against New Zealand that would have been the case. Davison flatted in the final few laps when the Australians were already down to three men – as is the custom, one rider had already pulled out – and, because the time of each team is taken on the third rider across the line, Australia could not register and New Zealand earned a ride-through to the final.
There they proved no match for the British who had swapped the squad newcomer Mark Christian for Clancy. They started steadily, then pulled ahead from a kilometre in to take gold by well over 4sec. They did not break the magic 4min barrier, however, and the Australians left a reminder of what might have been by dipping just inside it in their ride for seventh place against Germany.
Sir Chris Hoy was present in the GB pits in the mentoring role he has adopted occasionally since retirement, but that was as close as his former colleagues came to repeating their triumph of London 2012 in the team sprint. Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny – gold medallists here with Hoy two years and four months ago – looked to have formed a promising combination with Callum Skinner in the opening World Cup in Mexico but they have been struggling with illness in recent weeks and finished only seventh, while their female counterparts, Victoria Williamson and Jess Varnish, managed fifth.
