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Germany, Netherlands beat Brits to win track cycling golds
Tokyo Olympics Cycling - AP Photo/Thibault Camus

Germany, Netherlands beat Brits to win track cycling golds

IZU, Japan (AP) — Germany twice broke the world record on the way to beating Britain for the gold medal in the women’s team pursuit on Tuesday, while the Dutch knocked off the Brits to win the men’s team sprint on a chaotic evening in the Izu Velodrome.

The German squad of Franziska Brausse, Lisa Brennauer, Lisa Klein and Mieke Kroeger roared past the Italians in the first round of the women’s team pursuit to set a new record, then shattered it against the two-time and reigning champs in the finals. The Germans’ time of 4:04.249 was more than six seconds better than their finals counterpart.

The world champion U.S. women’s pursuit team pulled away from Canada to claim the bronze medal.

A few minutes later, the Netherlands knocked the British from their perch atop the men’s team sprint. The threesome of Jeffrey Hoogland, Roy van den Berg and Harrie Lavreysen stopped the clock in 41.369 seconds to snap the streak of three straight gold medals won by the powerful British team going back to the 2008 Games in Beijing.

The new-look British squad of Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin and Jason Kenny led by the slimmest margins after the first lap but was unable to keep up the pace. They finished in 44.589 seconds to claim the silver medal.

France took advantage of Australia’s ragged ride to earn the bronze medal in their matchup.

There was even more drama in the first round of the men’s team pursuit.

After the Italians set a world record in 3:42.307 to edge New Zealand by just 9 hundredths of a second, world champion Denmark and three-time defending Olympic champion Britain squared off for the other spot in the final.

Just after the 3,000-meter mark, the Danish team was so far ahead of the Brits — who had to replace injured stalwart Ed Clancy with Charlie Tanfield — that they had pulled up right behind them. But rather than going around Tanfield, who had fallen off the pace, Denmark’s Frederik Madsen ran right into his rear wheel and sent both crashing down.

Madsen was clearly at fault, but that didn’t stop the Dane from standing over Tanfield and berating him. Madsen was still cursing loud enough for the entire velodrome to hear as he headed for the pits.

Officials convened and declared Denmark the winner, setting up a matchup with Italy on Wednesday for the gold medal.

“I’d like to share a medal with my teammates here,” Italy’s Filippo Ganna said. “They need now to hold on for 24 hours more, and then if they want to get wasted they can do whatever they want to. I’ll be the first to join them.”

The showdown most cycling fans had anticipated in the velodrome actually came in the first-round heats of the women’s team pursuit, where the Olympic champion Brits and the world champion Americans faced off for a chance at gold.

Both were beaten by Germany in qualifying, eliminating any chance of a third straight finals matchup.

The British, swapping Neah Evans into the lineup for Elinor Barker, trailed the first half of the 4,000-meter race before finding another gear. They wound up stopping the clock in 4:06.748 to edge the Americans, who set a national record with a time of 4:07.579, and take down the world record the Germans set the previous day.

Germany promptly took it right back with a time of 4:06.166 that eliminated Italy from medal contention.

That set up a duel between Germany and Britain that was only close for about two laps. The Germans opened a 2-second advantage by the halfway point and nearly caught the British by the time they hit the finish line, giving them ample time to celebrate a gold medal that few who follow track cycling saw coming.

It was the first time that Britain’s Laura Kenny has ever won anything but gold. She was a member of the past two Olympic champion pursuit teams and also has claimed the past two omnium gold medals.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports