Medal chase

A Southland rider has helped the New Zealand women's pursuit team qualify as the fastest at the Olympics — while setting a new national record in the process.

Invercargill-born Nicole Shields (lead), along with Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha and Emily Shearman, set the fastest qualifying time, finishing in 4 minutes 04.679 seconds in Paris yesterday.

They qualified more than half a second faster than the United States’ team and more than 2 secs faster than the United Kingdom team.

The Kiwis will race Italy and fight for a gold or silver medal this morning.

While the other Southland rider Tom Sexton, along with Aaron Gate, Keegan Hornblow and Campbell Stewart, beat Belgium yesterday morning, other results meant they would only race France for fifth and sixth today.

On Saturday, Corbin Strong finished in 27th overall after completing his first Olympic men’s road race.