Paris 2024 Olympics - Track Cycling - Men's Team Pursuit, First Round - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France - August 06, 2024. Oliver Bleddyn of Australia, Sam Welsford of Australia, Conor Leahy of Australia and Kelland O'brien of Australia in action during heat 4. REUTERS/Matthew Childs
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) - Australia smashed the men's team pursuit world record on Tuesday as they put themselves in the frame for their first Olympic gold in the track discipline since 2004.
The quartet of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O'Brien powered around the 4km race in 3:40.730 to leave Olympic champions Italy in their wake.
Italy's world record of 3:42.032 had stood since the Tokyo Olympics. Britain will face Australia in Wednesday's final after beating Denmark in a time just outside Italy's mark.
The National Velodrome is proving extremely fast with world records also falling in the women's and men's team sprints.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
