The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ( ...

held over three laps of a

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

. The current men's world record time is 41.225 seconds. This was set by the Netherlands team of

Jeffrey Hoogland Jeffrey Hoogland (born 16 March 1993) is a Dutch track cyclist. He represented his nation in three editions of the 2013, 2014 and 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. At the 2015 UEC European Track Championships, he collected a total of th ...

Harrie Lavreysen Harrie Lavreysen (born 14 March 1997) is a Dutch track cyclist who competes in sprint events. He is two-time Olympic gold medalist, having won the sprint and team sprint event at the 2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also kn ...

and

Roy van den Berg Roy van den Berg (born 8 September 1988) is a Dutch track cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Track Team . He was a part of a team that won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer olympics in the team sprint event, setting the new Olympic record i ...

at the 2020 World Championships. The women's world record of 46.064 seconds was set by the German team of

Lea Friedrich Lea Sophie Friedrich (born 7 January 2000) is a German professional track cyclist. In October 2019, she won the silver medal in the women's team sprint event at the 2019 UEC European Track Championships. Major results ;2017 :National Junior T ...

Pauline Grabosch Pauline Sophie Grabosch (born 14 January 1998) is a German track cyclist, representing Germany at international competitions. She won the silver medal at the 2016 UEC European Track Championships in the 500m time trial. Major results ;2016 :3rd ...

and

Emma Hinze Emma Hinze (born 17 September 1997) is a German professional Cycle sport, racing cyclist. She competed in the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, 2016 and 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, winning in individual and team Sprint ( ...

at the

2021 World Championships 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

. It was first introduced into championship racing in 1995. The team sprint has been an Olympic event for men since 2000 and for women since 2012. Like the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

event, two teams race against each other, starting on opposite sides of the track. At the end of the first lap, the leading rider in each team pulls up the banking leaving the second rider to lead for the next lap; at the end of the second lap, the second rider does the same, leaving the third rider to complete the last lap on his own. The team with the faster time is the winner. The third rider needs good endurance qualities to maintain high speed to the finish. Kilometre

track time trial The track time trial is a track cycling event where cyclists compete individually against the clock to record the fastest time over the specified distance from a standing start. Time trial bikes Track time trial bikes differ from normal track bik ...

specialists are usually chosen for this role.

Rules and format

The qualifying round sees each team racing by themselves against the clock. The aim of the qualifying round is to simply set the fastest possible time out of all the teams. In the Olympic Games qualifying teams will then progress into a knockout round against another team, with the two eventual surviving teams competing for the Gold and Silver and the next two competing for the Bronze medal. In the World Championships and World Cup Classics meetings, the top two from the qualifying round progress straight to the final and the third and fourth quickest fight it out for the bronze medal.

References

Events in track cycling {{Cycling-stub