| | Event type

Individual Pursuit (4,000 metres), Men

Date	15 – 16 August 2008
Status	Olympic
Location	Laoshan Zixingcheguan, Beijing
Participants	18 from 12 countries

Britain’s Bradley Wiggins was the defending champion and had won the 2007-08 World Championships, stamping him as the favorite. Wiggins qualified with almost a four-second margin over second placed Hayden Roulston of New Zealand. In the first round, Wiggins and Roulston had the fastest times and met again in the final. The final was close, with Roulston and Wiggins all but tied thru 2,500 metres. But Wiggins had too much strength and pulled ahead to win by over two seconds. Britain continued its track dominance when their other rider, Steven Burke, came from behind against Russian Aleksey Markov to win the bronze medal. Burke had been taken to Beijing only as a reserve but improved his personal best down from 4:31 to 4:20 during training for the Games.

One big story of the pursuit was the seventh-place finisher, Taylor Phinney of the United States. Phinney was only 18 and had been World Junior Champion in 2007 in the road time trial, but was in his first year of racing at the senior international level. However, he had the pedigree as the son of Davis Phinney, bronze medalist in the 1984 team time trial and a winner of two stages at the Tour de France, and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, winner of the first women’s Olympic road race in 1984.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Qualifying	R1	Final
1	Bradley Wiggins	GBR	– (1 h9)	– (1 h4)	– (1 h1)	Gold
2	Hayden Roulston	NZL	– (1 h8)	– (1 h3)	– (2 h1)	Silver
3	Steven Burke	GBR	– (1 h2)	– (1 h1)	– (3 h2)	Bronze
4	Aleksey Markov	RUS	– (2 h9)	– (1 h2)	– (4 h2)
5	Volodymyr Diudia	UKR	– (1 h6)	– (2 h1)	–
6	Toni Tauler	ESP	– (1 h3)	– (2 h2)	–
7	Taylor Phinney	USA	– (2 h6)	– (2 h3)	–
8	Aleksandr Serov	RUS	– (1 h5)	– (2 h4)	–
9	Brad McGee	AUS	– (1 h7)	–	–
10	Sergi Escobar	ESP	– (2 h5)	–	–
11	David O'Loughlin	IRL	– (2 h7)	–	–
12	Brett Lancaster	AUS	– (1 h1)	–	–
13	Jens Mouris	NED	– (2 h3)	–	–
14	Vitaliy Popkov	UKR	– (1 h4)	–	–
15	Fabien Sanchez	FRA	– (2 h1)	–	–
16	Carlos Alzate	COL	– (2 h2)	–	–
17	Alexandr Pliuschin	MDA	– (2 h4)	–	–
18	Jenning Huizenga	NED	– (2 h8)	–	–

Qualifying Round

Date	15 August 2008 — 16:55
Format	Top 8 finishers advanced to round one.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Bradley Wiggins	GBR	–
2	Hayden Roulston	NZL	–
3	Aleksey Markov	RUS	–
4	Volodymyr Diudia	UKR	–
5	Steven Burke	GBR	–
6	Toni Tauler	ESP	–
7	Taylor Phinney	USA	–
8	Aleksandr Serov	RUS	–
9	Brad McGee	AUS	–
10	Sergi Escobar	ESP	–
11	David O'Loughlin	IRL	–
12	Brett Lancaster	AUS	–
13	Jens Mouris	NED	–
14	Vitaliy Popkov	UKR	–
15	Fabien Sanchez	FRA	–
16	Carlos Alzate	COL	–
17	Alexandr Pliuschin	MDA	–
18	Jenning Huizenga	NED	–

Heat #1

Time	16:55

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Brett Lancaster	AUS	–
2	Fabien Sanchez	FRA	–

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Steven Burke	GBR	–
2	Carlos Alzate	COL	–

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Toni Tauler	ESP	–
2	Jens Mouris	NED	–

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Vitaliy Popkov	UKR	–
2	Alexandr Pliuschin	MDA	–

Heat #5

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Aleksandr Serov	RUS	–
2	Sergi Escobar	ESP	–

Heat #6

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Volodymyr Diudia	UKR	–
2	Taylor Phinney	USA	–

Heat #7

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Brad McGee	AUS	–
2	David O'Loughlin	IRL	–

Heat #8

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Hayden Roulston	NZL	–
2	Jenning Huizenga	NED	–

Heat #9

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Bradley Wiggins	GBR	–
2	Aleksey Markov	RUS	–

Round One

Date	16 August 2008 — 16:30
Format	Fastest two winners advance to final; next fastest two winners advance to bronze medal race.

Heat #1

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Steven Burke	GBR	–
2	Volodymyr Diudia	UKR	–

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Aleksey Markov	RUS	–
2	Toni Tauler	ESP	–

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Hayden Roulston	NZL	–
2	Taylor Phinney	USA	–

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Bradley Wiggins	GBR	–
2	Aleksandr Serov	RUS	–

Final Round

Date	16 August 2008

Heat 1/2

Time	18:55

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Bradley Wiggins	GBR	–
2	Hayden Roulston	NZL	–

Heat 3/4

Time	18:50

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
3	Steven Burke	GBR	–
4	Aleksey Markov	RUS	–