Canada’s gold medal hopes remain alive in women’s team pursuit

Canada finished fourth in women’s team pursuit qualifying on Thursday at the Rio Olympic Velodrome, keeping their gold medal hopes alive.

Thursday’s team, which featured Allison BeveridgeLaura Brown, Jasmin Glaesser and Georgia Simmerling, completed their qualifying run with a time of 4:19:599. They finished behind Great Britain (4:13:260), the United States (4:14:286) and Australia (4:19:059).

Great Britain, who finished third at this year’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships, set a new world record with their time.

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Rio 2016: Allison Beveridge, Laura Brown, Jasmin Glaesser and Georgia Simmerling, women's team pursuit

Canada’s Allison Beveridge, Laura Brown, Jasmin Glaesser and Georgia Simmerling race in the qualifying round of women’s team pursuit at Rio 2016 on August 11, 2016.

“We need to put it together a bit better and execute better,” said Glaesser. “I was really surprised to see Great Britain set a new world record, but this is the Olympics, and everyone came here flying. Everyone is bringing their ‘A’ game, that’s what we’re seeing out there. I think we can go faster. We didn’t get the pacing we wanted to today.”

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Canada will now face a tough task in Saturday’s first round, going up against Great Britain. Meanwhile, Australia will take on the United States. The winners of those two races will compete for gold.

Canada has had a lot of success in women’s team pursuit since winning bronze at London 2012. The team has reached the podium of every World Championship since 2012, including a second place finish this year.