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The New Zealand men's pursuit team. The impressive Great Britain and Australian teams look to have gold and silver wrapped up, but the Kiwis are a chance to repeat their Beijing effort with a bronze finish. - Source: Photosport -
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The Kiwi men's pursuit combo has qualified in medal position - third fastest - as track cycling got underway at the London Olympics tonight.
Riding seventh of the 10 teams, Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Marc Ryan and Jesse Sergeant hurtled around the Velodrome to clock 3m 57.607s and set the benchmark for the three teams coming behind.
But their mark didn't stand for long, as Great Britain immediately responded with a new world record of 3m 52.499s and Australia - the last foursome on the track - also went faster (3m 55.694s).
New Zealand will now face their trans-Tasman rivals in tomorrow's eight-team first round, while Britain take on fourth-ranked Denmark. The winners progress to the final, while the next two fastest teams ride off for bronze medals.
The Kiwis took bronze at Beijing four years ago and also occupied the same position at this year's world championships in Melbourne.
The only other New Zealanders on the track tonight were the men's sprint team of Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Simon van Velthooven. They went seventh fastest through the qualifying round, but bowed out to France at the next stage, clocking a new best time of 43.495s for fifth.