The Kiwi cyclists on the medal dais. Photo: SW Pix / www.photopsort.nz
The New Zealand women's sprint cycling team overperformed on Tuesday by winning a silver medal at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris.
The team - Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton and Ellesse Andrews - set a world record in the relatively new three-woman sprint relay on their way to the final. They were beaten by the British team, who broke the world record all three times they raced today.
After winning silver, Andrews told Sky Sport: "It's just so special to have all of our friends and family here watching as well. We can really feel them in the crowd."
"It's just absolutely amazing," Petch said. "The journey to here has been insane and to actually put it down on the day is just so special."
Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP
Petch, 26, finished 12th racing in the BMX at the Tokyo Olympics.
Andrews, 24, is already an Olympic silver-medallist, world champion in the keirin and a triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Coach Jon Andrews, Ellesse's father, is the sprint team coach and was also surprised they had gone so well.
NZ sprint coach on Olympic Silver medal
"I knew it would be fast tonight and I knew the girls were capable of doing something special. I just didn't how good it would be."
They were very close to breaking the old world record in training on a track that wasn't particularly good, he told RNZ's Barry Guy in Paris. .
"Here it was hot, the environmental conditions were quite good but the track is beautiful, it's an amazing track. We knew it was going to be potentially very quick.
"I expected a little bit more from the Germans and we delivered more than I probably hoped."
He said the New Zealanders were relaxed today and were able to reproduce at the Olympics what they had been doing in training.
"And that's a really important part of how we operate and how we perform."
Photo: SW Pix / www.photopsort.nz
Meanwhile, Britain's Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane made sure the track cycling programme began with a bang, Reuters reported.
Welsh rider Finucane, the individual world champion, made it a glorious Olympic debut as she led the team home.
Britain had not even qualified a team for the team sprint since 2012 but came in with great expectations and did not disappoint as they dominated the opening event of the week.
They clocked a world record 45.186 seconds in the final with New Zealand's trio finishing in 45.659. World champions Germany had to be content with the bronze medal after beating the Netherlands.
Defending Olympic champions China were a poor sixth.
-Reuters / RNZ