Australia broke the world record in the men's team pursuit at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, and the British team did the same in a phenomenal run that stunned Italy, the defending Olympic men's team pursuit champion.

Australia broke the world record and set a new record in the 4km Team Pursuit with a time of 3:40.73, becoming the first team in history to break 3:41.

For Denmark's Niklas Larsen, the result was not a tough one to take after being just 0.4 seconds behind in the qualifying round. It was a hard race, but I did what I could," he said. It was a hard race, but I did what I could do, so I'm a little sad," he said.

Italy raced with the same four riders that won gold in Tokyo, while Great Britain finished the round with the Tokyo team. Denmark swapped two riders compared to 2021, with Carl Frederik Bevoort and Tobias Hansen replacing Lasse Norman Hansen and Frederik Rodenberg.

According to Larsen, comparative experience was irrelevant when it came to playing the British.

"They were super strong. I think that's the way it is. Sometimes you meet players who have a little bit of special strength, and I think the English today were a little bit special," Larsen said.

However, there is still hope for both teams as they advance to the bronze medal final against Italy.

Italian coach Marco Villa was equally philosophical.

"This is sport, this is the Olympics," Villa told Cycling News. 'When we arrived at the Olympics, we'd worked hard for three years, worked on the athletes, on the material, and now it was time for us to go back to the Olympics.' Australia broke the world record. It will be a great final tomorrow. [Villa does not think it is a problem for athletes like Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milano to combine road racing and track, citing the success of Australian Sam Welsford, British Ethan Hayter, and American Kirsten Faulkner, who said, " I think it's the way to go (to combine road and track) and it's not a problem," she said.

However, he suggested that the Olympic schedule could be more staggered, giving road athletes more rest before track events. This year, the road races were held two days before the team pursuit.

"I hope that at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the race schedule will be improved. That way we can see the same athletes on the track and on the road, both in time trial and mountain biking."

Mathieu van der Pol was dropped from the mountain bike discipline to focus on the road race, and Tom Pidcock fell in the road race after winning the mountain bike the previous week.

"It was difficult. It was difficult for Van der Pol in mountain biking and for the road race men to ride the road and then race on the track two days later. With 17 days in the Olympic schedule, I think we can better split the days and have track and road athletes competing."

Unlimited access to all coverage of the 2024 Olympics - including breaking news and analysis reported by journalists on the ground from all road, mountain bike, track, and BMX racing events. More info.