Athletes of Great Britain compete during the women's team pursuit qualifying of cycling track at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 11, 2016. Great Britain set a new world record of 4:13.260. (Xinhua/Li Ga)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain snatched its first track cycling gold medal of the Rio Olympics after setting a Games' record to win the men's team sprint here on Thursday.
Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner clocked a winning time of 42.440 seconds, a new Olympic Games record, beating Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Edward Dawkings of New Zealand to the second place in 42.542.
"All of it was a surprise today, genuinely. We surpassed ourselves. Then I thought we could run away with it, but New Zealand gave us a run. We can't win the bloody worlds to save our lives, but we win the Olympics every time," said Kenny.
Kenny collected his fourth Olympic gold medal in cycling track's all events, joining American Marcus Hurley in second place on the all-time gold medal list.
"It's great to win four. Maybe I can win a few more during these Games. The Olympics are the biggest race and it's great if you can win," added Kenny.
France took the bronze by defeating Australia.
Earlier, Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell Shand of Britain set a new world record of 4:13.260 in the qualifying round of the women's team pursuit.
Britain dominated the track cycling at the past two Olympics, winning eight out of the 10 gold medals at London 2012 and claiming seven in Beijing 2008.
