Aus vs NZ in Worlds TP gold ride off

Aug 22nd, 12. New Zealand and Australia will face off in both the men's and women's gold medal Team Pursuit rides at the UCI Junior World Track Championships tonight.

This afternoon's session was the first of the five day competition in Invercargill.

The Kiwi women's team of Cameron Cassie, Alysha Keith, Racquel Sheath rode a 3:30.719 and were only beaten by the defending champions from Australia who rode a 3:29.509. Great Britain rode just 0.12s slower than the Kiwis, and will ride Russia (3:34s) in the bronze medal ride.

Expect the Australian team to come out fast in tonight's 3km gold medal ride, their first 1km was over 1sec faster than the Kiwis in the qualifying round. The two teams were evenly paced in the 2nd and 3rd kilometres.

In the second event of the competition, the Kiwi men's Team Pursuit squad of Liam Aitcheson, Dylan Kennett, Hayden McCormick and Hamish Schreurs posted the fastest time of the day - a 4:08.125. 

Australia, the men's defending champions and world record holders, started faster, but finished their 4km ride in 4:08.468 and will face the Kiwis in the gold medal ride tonight. The bronze medal will be contested between Russia and Ukraine.

Tonight's session also sees the first event for the sprinters with the men's and women's Team Sprint qualifying and finals. The session starts at 6:30pm

TP Qualifying Results

Men's 4000m team pursuit: New Zealand 4:08.125,1; Australia 4:08.468, 2; Russia 4:09.132, 3; Ukraine 4:16.025, 4; Japan 4:16.248, 5; Belgium 4:17.316, 6; Belarus 4:18.099, 7; Switzerland 4:20.675, 8; Mexico 4:23.036, 9; Kazakhstan 4:23.732, 10; South Africa 4:25.169, 11.