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Britain celebrated silver in the men’s team sprint for a second successive Olympics as they were forced to admit the world record-breaking Netherlands squad remain in a league of their own.
In a repeat of the Tokyo final three years ago, Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull were beaten by Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, who broke the world record for the second time in an hour to win in 40.949 seconds.
Carlin, part of the Tokyo team three years ago alongside Sir Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens, said silver was “absolutely” the best Team GB could have achieved.
“I think that Dutch team is in a league of their own,” the 27-year-old Carlin said. “They break the world record, they’re (eight) tenths ahead of us which is miles in terms of performance in a team sprint.
“We executed three amazing rides, really clean, really composed and I think these two boys at their first Olympics really stepped up massively and dealt with the pressure of an Olympic Games which isn’t easy.”
Turnbull put it more bluntly.
“Ultimately we were hoping for a mess up from the Dutch and it didn’t happen,” the 25-year-old said. “But the first-round ride took all the pressure off.
“We secured a medal and to be honest maybe a grade higher than expected.”
After reaching the final, Kenny explained Great Britain could shaken up their tactics in a bid for an upset against a Dutch team who have won the world title in five of the last six years.
“We could put massive gears on and throw everything at it and hope for the best,” the seven-time Olympic champion said.
“But in all likelihood the gears we were on we believed were the quickest anyway, that’s why we were on them, so we sat down and thought, let’s just do our ride and go as fast as we can.
“Obviously the Dutch are quicker but if they crack we’ve got to be close to pick up the pieces. They didn’t, they executed perfectly themselves, and they’re in a different league at the minute.”
Carlin then revealed they tried those bigger gears in the Tokyo final and paid the price. Not only were they beaten by three full seconds, it hampered both Kenny and Carlin in the individual events that remained.
“I saw what it did to Jason’s sprint opportunities,” Carlin said. “He was a shell of a man and only turned up again on keirin day.
“I remember sitting with Ryan and he was like, ‘Yeah, we can do it’, and then looking around and Jason was on the floor. I’ve never seen Jason on the floor in my life. Basically sick bag in hand and looking like he was about to need CPR.”
The message is instead one of optimism for the future. For Turnbull and Lowe, this was the biggest result of their careers – Lowe, who turns 21 later this month, was riding his first major championship having only joined the podium programme late last year.
Their time of 41.814 seconds in the final was a new British record.
“It’s on the up,” Lowe said of the sprint squad. “We’re still a young team with a lot of progression ahead.”
Team GB will go for gold again on Wednesday, looking to reclaim the men’s team pursuit crown they lost in Tokyo.
With Charlie Tanfield stepping in for Dan Bigham, who crashed in training on Friday, a big turn from Ethan Hayter helped them clock a time of three minutes 42.151 to reach the final, where they will face an Australian team who set a new world record of 3:40.730.
The women’s team pursuit squad, racing without the injured Katie Archibald, were third fastest in qualifying as Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts set a time of 4:06.710, two seconds off an outstanding ride from New Zealand.
