| Date | 30 – 31 July 1992 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Velódromo de Horta, Barcelona |
| Participants | 17 from 17 countries |
This was the début for this event at the Olympics, although women had competed in World Championships in the pursuit since 1958. The early stars of the event never had a chance to compete at the Olympics, such as Britain’s great female rider Beryl Burton, Belgium’s Yvonne Reynders, and five-time World Champion Tamara Garkuskin of the Soviet Union. Since 1982 the event had been dominated by two women – France’s Jeannie Longo and America’s Rebecca Twigg. Twigg was World Champion in 1982, 1984-85 and 1987, while Longo won the Worlds in 1986 and 1988-89. But the 1990 World title went to Holland’s Leontien van Moorsel while the 1991 World Champion was Germany’s Petra Roßner.
Seventeen riders started the qualifying which was won surprisingly by Australia’s Kathy Watt, with Twigg second and Roßner third. The best race of the event occurred in the second quarter-final when Twigg and Longo were drawn against each other. Twigg advanced, winning by less than 4/100th’s of a second. But in the semi-finals, Watt won easily over Twigg and Roßner won the other semi to advance to the final. Watt startd the final quickly and built up of a lead of over 2.3 seconds. However, Roßner rode steadily and caught her with 2½ laps to go, eventually winning by almost two seconds.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Qualifying | QF | SF | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Roßner |  GER | – (1 h9) | – (1 h3) | – (1 h2) | – (1 h1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Kathy Watt |  AUS | – (1 h6) | – (1 h4) | – (1 h1) | – (2 h1) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Rebecca Twigg |  USA | – (2 h6) | – (1 h2) | – (2 h1) | – | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Hanne Malmberg |  DEN | – (2 h7) | – (1 h1) | – (2 h2) | – | |||
| 5 | Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli |  FRA | – (1 h8) | – (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 6 | Svetlana Samokhvalova |  EUN | – (1 h7) | – (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 7 | Tea Vikstedt-Nyman |  FIN | – (2 h5) | – (2 h4) | – | – | |||
| 8 | Leontien van Moorsel |  NED | – (1 h5) | – (2 h3) | – | – | |||
| 9 | Kristel Werckx |  BEL | – (2 h8) | – | – | – | |||
| 10 | Jacqui Nelson |  NZL | – (2 h9) | – | – | – | |||
| 11 | Seiko Hashimoto |  JPN | – (1 h2) | – | – | – | |||
| 12 | Gabriella Pregnolato |  ITA | – (1 h4) | – | – | – | |||
| 13 | Aiga Zagorska |  LTU | – (1 h3) | – | – | – | |||
| 14 | Kelly-Ann Way |  CAN | – (2 h4) | – | – | – | |||
| 15 | Zhou Lingmei |  CHN | – (2 h3) | – | – | – | |||
| 16 | Olga Sacasa |  NCA | – (1 h1) | – | – | – | |||
| AC r1/4 | Margaret Bean |  GUM | – (DNF h2) | – | – | – |
| Date | 30 July 1992 — 20:20 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top 8 advanced to the quarter-finals. |
| Time | 20:20 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olga Sacasa | NCA | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seiko Hashimoto | JPN | – | ||
| Margaret Bean | GUM | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aiga Zagorska | LTU | – | ||
| 2 | Zhou Lingmei | CHN | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriella Pregnolato | ITA | – | ||
| 2 | Kelly-Ann Way | CAN | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leontien van Moorsel | NED | – | ||
| 2 | Tea Vikstedt-Nyman | FIN | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathy Watt | AUS | – | ||
| 2 | Rebecca Twigg | USA | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svetlana Samokhvalova | EUN | – | ||
| 2 | Hanne Malmberg | DEN | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli | FRA | – | ||
| 2 | Kristel Werckx | BEL | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Roßner | GER | – | ||
| 2 | Jacqui Nelson | NZL | – |
| Date | 30 July 1992 — 22:20 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each heat advanced to the semi-finals. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hanne Malmberg | DEN | – | ||
| 2 | Svetlana Samokhvalova | EUN | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rebecca Twigg | USA | – | ||
| 2 | Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli | FRA | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Roßner | GER | – | ||
| 2 | Leontien van Moorsel | NED | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathy Watt | AUS | – | ||
| 2 | Tea Vikstedt-Nyman | FIN | – |
| Date | 31 July 1992 — 18:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each heat advanced to the final. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathy Watt | AUS | – | ||
| 2 | Rebecca Twigg | USA | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Roßner | GER | – | ||
| 2 | Hanne Malmberg | DEN | – |
| Date | 31 July 1992 — 20:30 |
|---|
| Time | 20:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Roßner | GER | – | ||
| 2 | Kathy Watt | AUS | – |
