Team Pursuit (4,000 metres), Men

Ten teams contested the team pursuit in Paris, up from the eight teams that took to the track in Tokyo. The Italian quartet of Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, and Jonathan Milan that won gold in Tokyo were all present to defend their title in Paris. Denmark sent three of their four riders who had won gold at the Track World Championships in Glasgow to Paris, with Tobias Aagaard Hansen replacing Lasse Norman Hansen.

The qualifying round saw Australia, Great Britain, Denmark, and Italy post the four-fastest times, ensuring that they would be racing for medals in the finals. There was disappointment for the home crowd as France could only post the fifth-best time to see them advance to the finals for the minor places along with New Zealand, Belgium, and Canada. The quartets from Germany and Japan, finishing ninth and tenth, respectively, were eliminated.

In the first round, Great Britain faced off against Denmark, with the British quartet winning by just over half-a-second to advance to the gold medal final. The fourth and final race in the first round was between two powerhouses of the track, Italy and Australia. The Australians went on to win by almost three seconds, setting a world record time of 3:40.730 in the process.

Despite no opportunity to retain their Olympic title, the Italian team went on to beat their European rivals Denmark by nearly two seconds to win bronze. Australia and Great Britain continued to contest their Antipodean rivalry, taking to the track for the gold medal final. The British quartet were trying to make up for their poor performance of seventh in Tokyo, with the Australians assured of bettering the bronze they won three years ago. Team GB went out hard and had the narrowest of leads at the 1,000 metres mark. The Australians, however, put the power down to lead at all the other time checks and, most importantly, the one at the finish line.

Gold went to Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy, and Kelland O’Brien of Australia, with the British quartet of Ethan Hayter, Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, and Ethan Vernon winning silver, along with Ollie Wood, who had represented Team GB in the qualifying rounds.