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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Andrew Gamble

England claim silver as men lose cycling team pursuit final at Commonwealth Games

New Zealand defeated England to win gold in the men's 4000m team pursuit.

New Zealand started well, powering to an early lead as Jordan Kerby led the Kiwi outfit. Aaron Gate took the next leg and England attempted to narrow the gap but the team of Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and Oli Wood could not stop their record-setting opponents.

Both teams changed well and didn't make any mistakes, and New Zealand pushed the speed to near-record pace as they stretched their advantage to over a second and a half. Ultimately, a new Commonwealth Games record awaited the champions while England settled for silver.

The English team unfortunately never looked like topping New Zealand, despite going quicker than the previous Commonwealth Games record with a time of three minutes 49.584 seconds. New Zealand were exceptional, with their quartet of Gate, Kerby, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart clearly emotional after setting a new Games record of three minutes 47.575 seconds.

The result comes after para-cyclist Neil Fachie won Scotland's first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games and Laura Kenny spearheaded England to team pursuit bronze.

Fachie and his sighted pilot Lewis Stewart set a new Games record of 59.938 seconds in the men's tandem 1,000m time trial. His gold was his fifth Commonwealth title, bringing the veteran level with lawn bowler Alex Marshall as Scotland's most successful Games athlete.

New Zealand celebrate winning the team pursuit on day one (Getty Images)
England just didn't have any answers against a brilliant New Zealand quartet (REUTERS)

“It's something I've spoken about for a while, as you can hear my voice has gone. I've been quite ill and that made that all the more tough,” Fachie told BBC Sport.

“But I was determined to win for Scotland, for my family, my wife and my baby to come. I'm just so, so proud. I came into this knowing it would take something super-human. I'm not getting any younger and I am having to get quicker.”

Elsewhere, Kenny, Josie Knight, Maddie Leech and Sophie Lewis beat Wales by almost two seconds to earn their spot on the team pursuit podium, having missed out on a place in the gold medal final. The track cycling is taking part at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, where the 2012 Olympics were held as Kenny won the first two of her Olympic titles.

Kenny added: “I don't think I have ever felt so much pressure to win a bronze medal in my life with a younger team. I was a whole bag of nerves to help them win and get a taste of medals I've had in the past.”

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