Courageous pursuiters set up bronze medal contests

Australia's men's team pursuiters have narrowly missed out on a shot at a gold medal in Tokyo after a dramatic crash in qualifying on Monday night.

The quartet of Leigh Howard, Kelland O'Brien, Sam Welsford and Alex Porter were less than 1km into their 4km effort on the Izu velodrome when the handlebars of the bike being ridden by Porter who was in fourth wheel snapped, sending him crashing face-first onto the boards.

The race was stopped and a short time later the team was granted a re-start with Porter defying his injuries which included nasty skin grazing on his face, arms and legs.

Australia's women's team pursuiters will also be fighting for bronze on day two of the track competition after they posted the seventh fastest time in qualifying.

Annette Edmondson, Georgia Baker, Ashlee Ankudinoff and Alex Manly clocked a 4mins 13.57secs as Germany broke the World Record with 4:07.30 and Great Britain (4:09.02) and the United States (4:10.11) were second and third fastest.

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