The exciting New Zealand team earned themselves a place in the women's team pursuit cycling final later today when they demolished Italy in the semi-finals in the first session.
New Zealand, the fastest qualifier, were timed in their semi at 4min 04.818s and finished easing down as it was clear they had well and truly outridden the Italians. Italy, fourth in qualifying, finished their semi-final ride in 4min 07.191s.
The New Zealanders – Bryony Botha, Ally Wollaston, Emily Shearman and Nicole Shields – will race off against the United States for the gold after the Americans pipped Great Britain in the other semi.
Several other New Zealanders were involved in action in the first session today.
Ellesse Andrews showed her class by winning a tight race in the first heat of the women’s keirin, edging out the French and British riders on the line in a high-quality race. Andrews moved directly into the quarter-finals.
Rebecca Petch, the other New Zealand keirin rider, was outmaneuvered over the closing stages and finished fifth in her heat and needed to ride in the repechage round. There she finished second in her race behind Canadian Lauriane Genest, with the first two to go through to the quarter-finals.
Andrews, who won a silver medal in the keirin at the Tokyo Olympics and won the world title in 2023, said she was happy with her first race.
"It was a great race and I was super-happy with the execution," she said. "I had a clear plan and remained calm. It's nice to go through in one race and to gain a little bit of confidence."
In the men’s sprint, Sam Dakin was timed at 9.470s in the qualifying ride, which gave him 14th spot, with the first 24 advancing. The fastest qualifier was Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands, who set a world record 9.088s.
Dakin lost his next ride, beaten by the Pole, Rudyk Mateusz by 0.020s and then had to hope to win his repechage to progress to the round of 16. However, he dipped out in the repechage and will now focus on his favoured keirin event.