PURSUITING'S NEW PARADIGM

The men’s team pursuit world record appears to be in freefall, Vern Pitt investigates why

- Vern Pitt

With the tumbling of world records in the men’s team pursuit at the Track World Championships last month, it is clear to all that the discipline has entered a whole new era of speed.

The Danish team lowered the world record for the men’s four-kilometre pursuit three times in Berlin last month from 3.48.012, set by Australia a year earlier, to 3.44.672 by the end of the World Championships.

It left rival nations all scratching their heads and many further rethinking what is possible in a discipline that’s seen times tumble since the last Olympics. There the British team of Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Steven Burke set a World Record of 3.50.265 in the final. No four British men have ever gone faster.

“The Danes have shifted the paradigm massively,” says British Cycling men’s endurance coach Iain Dyer. “Just for a moment there, we were one of the fastest qualifiers in history. It’s a bit concerning for ourselves that we didn’t back up as well as we should have done the next day. Whenever you get a paradigm shift it sends everybody back to school really.”

It begs the question of why are we seeing such a leap forward in the discipline and just how fast four men can go over four kilometres?

Simon Jones, performance director at Cycling Australia, says: “I’ve stopped thinking about what’s possible, really. Obviously they’re four exceptional athletes, really committed, not scared at the distance. And they just totally attacked it like they had nothing to lose. It’s as simple as that.”