By Martyn Herman
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) – Britain’s women set a new world record in the qualifying rounds for the Olympic track cycling team sprint as the competition began at the National Velodrome on Monday.
Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane clocked 45.472 seconds for their three laps of the 250m track — beating the previous mark of 45.487 set by China this year.
Britain have not had a women’s team in the event since 2012 but have real medal prospects this time with individual world champion Finucane making her Games debut.
New Zealand’s Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton and Ellesse Andrews were second fastest with 45.593 while the German trio of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Friedrich, the favourites for gold, were third quickest in 45.644.
Two-time defending Olympic champions China were fifth.
In the first round later, the teams race in head-to-head heats to determine who will ride for the medals.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
