Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's team pursuit

The women's team pursuit event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 3 August 2021 at the Izu Velodrome.^[1] 32 cyclists (8 teams of 4) from 8 nations competed.^[2]

Women's team pursuit at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic track cycling
Venues	Izu Velodrome
Dates	2–3 August 2021
Competitors	38 from 8 nations
Teams	8
Winning time	4:04.249 WR
Medalists
Franziska Brauße Lisa Brennauer Lisa Klein Mieke Kröger  Germany Katie Archibald Laura Kenny Neah Evans Josie Knight Elinor Barker  Great Britain Megan Jastrab Jennifer Valente Chloé Dygert Emma White Lily Williams  United States
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Background

This will be the 3rd appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since its introduction in 2012.

The reigning Olympic champions are Katie Archibald, Laura Kenny, Elinor Barker, and Joanna Rowsell Shand of Great Britain; Great Britain has won both prior Olympic events (with Kenny and Rowsell Shand on both teams). The reigning (2020) World Champions are Jennifer Valente, Chloé Dygert, Emma White, and Lily Williams of the United States. Barker and Archibald were on the British 2020 World Championships silver medal team; Dygert and Valente were on the American 2016 Olympic silver medal team.

Russia, Germany, China, Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands are traditionally strong track cycling nations.^[3]

Qualification

Main article: Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 1 team of 4 cyclists in the team pursuit. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The eight top nations in the rankings qualify for the team pursuit event. These nations also automatically qualified a team in the Madison.^[2] Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition format

A team pursuit race involves two teams of four cyclists. Each team starts at opposite sides of the track. There are two ways to win: finish 16 laps (4 km) before the other team does or catch the other team. The time for each team is determined by the third cyclist to cross the finish line; the fourth cyclist does not need to finish.

The tournament consists of three rounds:^[4][5]

• Qualifying round: Each team does a time trial for seeding. Only the top 4 teams are able to compete for the gold medal; the 5th place and lower teams can do no better than bronze.
• First round: Four heats of 2 teams each. The top 4 teams are seeded against each other (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3) while the bottom 4 teams are seeded against each other (5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7). The winners of the top bracket advance to the gold medal final. The other 6 teams are ranked by time and advance to finals based on those rankings.
• Finals: Four finals, each with 2 teams. There is a gold medal final (gold and silver medals), a bronze medal final (bronze medal and 4th place), and 5th/6th and 7th/8th classification finals.

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)^[6]

Date	Time	Round
2 August	15:54	Qualifying
3 August	15:30	First round
	17:05	Finals

Results

Qualifying

Rank	Country	Cyclists	Result[7]	Notes
1	Germany	Franziska Brauße Lisa Brennauer Lisa Klein Mieke Kröger	4:07.307	WR
2	Great Britain	Katie Archibald Laura Kenny Elinor Barker Josie Knight	4:09.022
3	United States	Jennifer Valente Chloé Dygert Emma White Lily Williams	4:10.118
4	Italy	Elisa Balsamo Letizia Paternoster Rachele Barbieri Vittoria Guazzini	4:11.666
5	France	Victoire Berteau Marion Borras Valentine Fortin Marie Le Net	4:12.502
6	New Zealand	Holly Edmondston Bryony Botha Kirstie James Jaime Nielsen	4:12.536
7	Australia	Georgia Baker Annette Edmondson Ashlee Ankudinoff Alexandra Manly	4:13.571
8	Canada	Allison Beveridge Jasmin Duehring Annie Foreman-Mackey Georgia Simmerling	4:15.832

First round

Rank	Heat	Country	Cyclists	Result[8]	Notes
1	4	Germany	Franziska Brauße Lisa Brennauer Lisa Klein Mieke Kröger	4:06.159	QG, WR
2	3	Great Britain	Katie Archibald Laura Kenny Neah Evans Josie Knight	4:06.748	QG
3	3	United States	Megan Jastrab Jennifer Valente Chloé Dygert Emma White	4:07.562	QB
4	2	Canada	Allison Beveridge Ariane Bonhomme Annie Foreman-Mackey Georgia Simmerling	4:09.249	QB
5	1	Australia	Georgia Baker Annette Edmondson Ashlee Ankudinoff Maeve Plouffe	4:09.992
6	4	Italy	Elisa Balsamo Letizia Paternoster Rachele Barbieri Vittoria Guazzini	4:10.063
7	1	New Zealand	Holly Edmondston Bryony Botha Rushlee Buchanan Jaime Nielsen	4:10.223
8	2	France	Marion Borras Coralie Demay Valentine Fortin Marie Le Net	4:11.888

Finals

Rank	Country	Cyclists	Result[9]	Notes
Gold medal final
	Germany	Franziska Brauße Lisa Brennauer Lisa Klein Mieke Kröger	4:04.242	WR
	Great Britain	Katie Archibald Laura Kenny Neah Evans Josie Knight	4:10.607
Bronze medal final
	United States	Megan Jastrab Jennifer Valente Chloé Dygert Emma White	4:08.040
4	Canada	Allison Beveridge Ariane Bonhomme Annie Foreman-Mackey Georgia Simmerling	4:10.552
Fifth place final
5	Australia	Georgia Baker Annette Edmondson Ashlee Ankudinoff Maeve Plouffe	4:11.041
6	Italy	Elisa Balsamo Letizia Paternoster Martina Alzini Vittoria Guazzini	4:11.108
Seventh place final
7	France	Victoire Berteau Marion Borras Valentine Fortin Marie Le Net	4:10.388
8	New Zealand	Holly Edmondston Bryony Botha Kirstie James Jaime Nielsen	4:10.600

References

1. "Cycling Track Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
2. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Road Cycling" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
3. "Olympic Track Cycling at Tokyo 2020: Top Five Things to Know". Retrieved 28 June 2021.
4. "UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS PART 3 TRACK RACES" (PDF). UCI. 6 December 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
5. Liam Nee (26 March 2021). "Cycling 101: Competition format". NBC. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
6. "Cycling Track – Competition Schedule" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 12 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
7. "Cycling Track – Women's Team Pursuit – Qualifying Results" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 2 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
8. "Cycling Track – Women's Team Pursuit – First Round Results" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 3 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
9. "Cycling Track – Women's Team Pursuit – Final Classification" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 3 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.