Australia remains the only nation to have won the women’s team pursuit at the Commonwealth Games after claiming victory in Glasgow this morning.
The green-and-gold quartet of Alyssa Polites, Claudia Marcks, Georgia Baker and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden set a Games record to defend the title Australia won in 2022 and 2018, when the event was introduced to the program.
Baker stepped into the gold-medal final against New Zealand, replacing Sophie Edwards, who had helped the team qualify fastest with a time of 4:13.469.
Both teams stepped up in the trans-Tasman ride-off, but the Australians dug deep to prevail with a Commonwealth Games record result of 4:10.658.
It was a hard-fought finale, with the Aussies needing to turn around a deficit of more than one second at the halfway point.
Spurred on by coach Ashlee Ankudinoff on the duckboard, it took a sacrificial final pull by Marcks, the starter, followed by rapid turns at the front by Polites and Baker to bring Australia into the lead with one kilometre to race, while the fast-starting Kiwis starting to flag.
Tasmania’s Wilson-Haffenden drove the team home for the last four laps to claim the win, comfortably in the end, by two seconds.
Wilson-Haffenden celebrates Australia's victory.
"That's my happy place. When we start racing, that's when I'm happiest. When the board goes away, and the hand signals come out, that's when I come into my own," Wilson-Haffenden said.
"I was riding 50-cent coins by the end. The pedals weren't going around smooth, but giving as much power as I had, grit the teeth, and get to the finish line."
In the men’s team pursuit, Australia also qualified fastest for the gold final, but were beaten into second place by England.
All of the gold medallists will return to the velodrome tonight with Marcks, Edwards and Wilson-Haffenden competing in the individual pursuit, while Baker, Edwards and Polites are scheduled to contest the scratch race.
Photos: SWpix.com