Britain's Wiggins wins pursuit gold
Bradley Wiggins gave Britain a second track cycling title, holding off a mid-race challenge from Australian Brad McGee to take the pursuit gold.
Bradley Wiggins gave Britain a second track cycling title in as many days on Saturday, holding off a mid-race challenge from Australian Brad McGee to take the 4-kilometer pursuit gold at the Olympics.
Sergi Escobar of Spain won bronze, beating Rob Hayles of Britain. Wiggins finished in 4 minutes 16.304 seconds, more than a second slower that the Olympic record he set a day earlier but nevertheless beating the Australian by 4.132 seconds.
The time trial specialists linked arms after the race and rode together around the Olympic Velodrome in celebration. Wiggins took an early one-second lead in the race, but McGee started coming back, slowly closing the gap to .3 seconds around the halfway stage. At that point Wiggins found his second wind and sped off toward the title.
On Friday, Chris Hoy won the one-kilometer title for Britain. In the bronze medal race, Escobar took an early lead over Hayles and never let up, finishing in 4:17.947, compared to 4:22.291 for the Briton.
In qualifying for the 3-kilometer pursuit title, New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer set a world record of 3 minutes, 26.279 seconds to improve the mark Australia's Katie Mactier had set minutes earlier by a huge margin of 3.666 seconds.