New Zealand’s first gold medal of Commonwealth Games won in men’s team pursuit – صحيفة الصوت

Aaron Gate knew New Zealand was on track for a gold medal when he heard the home crowd at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London go silent.

New Zealand has its first gold medal of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games after the men’s team pursuit held off hosts England by two seconds to claim the country’s first gold medal in the event since Gary Anderson, Nigel Donnelly, Glenn McCleay and Staurt Williams won on home soil in 1990.

The quartet of Gate, Jordan Kerby, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart bounced back from the disappointment of last year’s Tokyo Olympics, where they crashed out of the bronze medal race while leading Australia, to take the final in a new Commonwealth Games record time of 3:47.575.

“When the crowd started going a bit quieter [we knew we had won],” a delighted Gate told Sky Sport.

“With a few laps to go there it was like oh, they’re not making much noise any more, hopefully it’s a good thing for us.

“Finally when we crossed the line, I looked up and saw them still coming out of the back straight, it was a massive sigh of relief.”

The lead changed hands multiple times during a pulsating start to the 4000m race but the New Zealanders finished the stronger of the two teams and never looked back after opening up a 1-second lead following a massive turn at the front from Sexton.

Sexton dropped away leaving Gate, Kerby and Stewart to finish the job for the fastest qualifiers, who came to Birmingham determined to make amends for the Olympics.

“It was an incredible night,” Stewart said. “We set it up in qualifying. We had a few things we had to work on. We went out there tonight and we knew we had to go faster.

“Every single one of these guys committed 100% and the team behind us, they were all there for us and it all came together perfectly as we saw out there.”

It was Kerby’s second consecutive gold medal in the team pursuit, having been part of the successful Australia team that won on the Gold Coast in 2018 before he switched nationality to represent New Zealand.

Andrews rides to the rescue

New Zealand claimed a silver medal in the women’s team pursuit after Ellesse Andrews rode to their rescue to ensure they could still compete.

A silver medal winner in the keirin at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, sprinter Andrews volunteered her services to the endurance team when Ally Wollaston was ruled out with an injury on the eve of the Games.

Wollaston crashed at the inaugural Tour de France Femmes and fractured her wrist, one day before she was set to leave for England.

After qualifying second, the New Zealand quartet of Andrews, Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Emily Shearman were well beaten by Australia in the gold medal race.

With the women’s team sprint final taking place so soon after the team pursuit Andrews dropped away almost immediately after the starter’s gun fire, allowing New Zealand to start the race but leaving Botha, Drummond and Shearman to slog it out against four Australian riders.

The numerical disadvantage took its toll. The New Zealanders were down at every checkpoint and finished more than five seconds behind their trans-Tasman counterparts after 4000m with Australia finishing strong over the final lap to set a new Commonwealth Games record of 4:12.234.

Botha was part of the New Zealand team that also won a silver medal on the Gold Coast in 2018.

“We started today not knowing what we could do. We only had three riders. We had no idea that at the end of the day we’d be on the second step of the podium,” Botha told Sky Sport.

“We’re extremely proud and we’re so happy with what we’ve done today.”