Sam Welsford wins second Olympic medal with team pursuit bronze

WAIS graduate Sam Welsford has claimed bronze in the men’s team pursuit as Australia bounced back from a crash in qualifying to find the podium for a second time.

Having booked their spot in the bronze medal ride by producing a 3:44.902 it set up a race with Tasman rivals New Zealand who with 3:42.397 were the slightly faster qualifiers.

In what was expected to be a close battle, the lead changed throughout the opening laps, with New Zealand 0.048secs up at the half way point. Disaster struck for New Zealand a short time later as a touch of wheels sent a rider crashing to the boards and split the team.

Australia continued their push and caught the Kiwi team to claim bronze.

“For us to bounce back after what happened on the first day was pretty special, we wanted to fight back and show that true Aussie Olympic spirit and fight all the way to the line no matter the result,” Welsford said. 

“After the rough start we had we went out today and if we got a medal it’s almost worth gold to us. It’s not the colour we wanted but for us to be on the podium after everything we’ve been through is just as special I think.”