There was less to celebrate for Great Britain in the Team Sprint competitions, with Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton missing out in the bronze medal final of the women’s competition, whilst Germany twice broke the world record on the way to gold.
WOMEN'S TEAM SPRINT
The gold medal final of the Women's Team Sprint was a classic with Germany's Miriam Welte and Kristinathen Vogel winning despite training by a couple of tenths of a second after a rapid opening lap of 18.415 from Australia’s Anna Meares. Germany kept it smooth, though, and turned it round to finish in their second world record time of the day, 32.549s. Australia’s silver medal time of 32.597 was also inside Germany’s first world record of the day.
In the bronze medal final, Jess Varnish was again not quite able to repeat her London form and left Victoria Pendleton just too much to do on the second lap, with China winning the medal with 32.870 to GB’s 33.160. Results
1. GER Germany 32.549 (WELTE Miriam & VOGEL Kristina) beat 2. AUS Australia 32.597
3. CHN China 32.870 beat 4. GBR Great Britain 33.160 (VARNISH Jessica & PENDLETON Victoria)
Earlier, women's Team Sprint qualifying saw Germany's Miriam Welte and Kristinathen Vogel break the world record for the first time on the way to the final against Australia.
The Aussies also went inside the mark set by GB’s Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton at the recent London World Cup. Germany’s time of 32.630 was over a tenth of a second inside that old mark of 32.754.
The GB duo couldn’t quite match their London effort, and recorded the fourth fastest time of 32.941s to go into the ride-off for bronze against China who clocked 32.937. Reflecting on the ride by Germany, Chris Boardman on the BBC observed: "[they] almost look pedestrian they are so smooth." Results
1 GER Germany 32.630 2 AUS Australia 32.752 3 CHN China 32.937 4 GBR Great Britain 32.941 5 FRA France 33.355 6 RUS Russia 33.440 7 NED Netherlands 33.571 8 UKR Ukraine 33.639 9 ESP Spain 34.276 10 NZL New Zealand 34.278 11 VEN Venezuela 34.335 12 COL Colombia 35.025 13 KOR Korea 35.128 14 JPN Japan 35.301 15 HKG Hong Kong 36.631 16 LTU Lithuania REL