Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's team sprint

The women's cycling team sprint at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at the London Velopark on 2 August.[1]

Women's cycling team sprint at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	London Velopark
Date	2 August
Competitors	20 from 10 nations
Winning time	32.798
Medalists
Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte  Germany Gong Jinjie Guo Shuang  China Kaarle McCulloch Anna Meares  Australia

Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 32.798 seconds. China won the silver medal and Australia took bronze.

Competition format

The team sprint is a two-lap race between two teams of two cyclists, starting on opposite sides of the track. Each member of the team must lead for one of the laps.

The tournament consisted of an initial qualifying round. The top eight teams advanced to the first round. The first round comprised head-to-head races based on seeding (1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, etc.). The winners of those four heats advanced to the medal round, with the two fastest winners competing in the gold medal final and the two slower winners facing off for bronze.[2]

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time

Date	Time	Round
Thursday 2 August 2012	16:00	Qualifications and final

Results

British Pendleton and Varnish: second in the qualification but relegated in the first round

Qualification

Rank	Heat	Country	Cyclists	Result	Notes
1	5	China	Gong Jinjie Guo Shuang	32.447	Q, WR, OR
2	4	Great Britain	Victoria Pendleton Jessica Varnish	32.526	Q. ER
3	5	Germany	Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte	32.630	Q
4	4	Australia	Kaarle McCulloch Anna Meares	32.825	Q
5	3	Netherlands	Yvonne Hijgenaar Willy Kanis	33.253	Q
6	3	France	Sandie Clair Virginie Cueff	33.638	Q
7	2	Ukraine	Lyubov Shulika Olena Tsyos	33.708	Q
8	1	Venezuela	Daniela Larreal Mariaesthela Vilera	34.320	Q
9	1	South Korea	Lee Eun-Ji Lee Hye-Jin	34.636
10	2	Colombia	Diana García Juliana Gaviria	34.870

• The ride of Varnish and Pendleton for Great Britain took place prior to that of Gong and Guo of China, and broke the existing world record. It was then immediately beaten by the Chinese team's time in the next heat.

First round

Rank	Heat	Country	Cyclists	Result	Notes
1	4	China	Gong Jinjie Guo Shuang	32.422	WR, OR
2	2	Germany	Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte	32.701
3	1	Australia	Kaarle McCulloch Anna Meares	32.806
4	3	Ukraine	Lyubov Shulika Olena Tsyos	33.620
5	1	Netherlands	Yvonne Hijgenaar Willy Kanis	33.090
6	2	France	Sandie Clair Virginie Cueff	33.707
7	4	Venezuela	Daniela Larreal Mariaesthela Vilera	34.415
8	3	Great Britain	Victoria Pendleton Jessica Varnish	32.567	REL*

• Great Britain won their heat with a time which would have qualified them for the gold medal match, but they were relegated for an early exchange.

Final bronze medal

Rank	Country	Cyclists	Result	Notes
	Australia	Kaarle McCulloch Anna Meares	32.727
4	Ukraine	Lyubov Shulika Olena Tsyos	33.491

Final gold medal

Rank	Country	Cyclists	Result	Notes
	Germany	Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte	32.798
	China	Gong Jinjie Guo Shuang	32.619	REL*

• China had the best time in the final, but were relegated for an early exchange.

References

1. http://www.london2012.com/cycling-track
2. Competition format

• Victoria Pendleton & Jess Varnish relegated from team sprint BBC