KEY POINTS

  • Team GB beat Australia with world record time to secure second cycling gold.
  • Wiggins moves ahead of Sir Chris Hoy with eight Olympic medals.

Great Britain have beaten Australia to win gold in the team pursuit final at Rio 2016, cementing Sir Bradley Wiggins' status as the most successful British Olympic athlete of all time.

Catch up all on the Rio 2016 Olympics news from IBTimes UK

More from IBTimes UK

Ed Clancy, Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Wiggins trailed by over 0.6 seconds at the half way point of the 4km race but Team GB held their nerve to close the gap and clinch victory with a new world record time of 3:50.265.

Another gold takes Wiggins' Olympic medal tally to eight – five gold, one silver and two bronze – lifting him above track cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy.

Ahead of the exhilirating finale, Denmark secured bronze after a comprehensive victory over New Zealand.

Australia had laid down a marker when they beat Great Britain at the track cycling world championships in March and started hungry to inflict another defeat on their old rivals. Alex Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Sam Welsford and Jack Bobridge sprang into the lead but their comfortable advantage began to disappear quickly after the half-way point, losing a rider before the 3km mark. With the momentum now fully with Wiggins and co, Britain soared ahead in the final 500m to win by 0.83 seconds.

Team GB
Ed Clancy, Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Sir Bradley Wiggins clinch gold Getty

Team GB booked their place in the final after recording what was the fastest team pursuit time of all time in their semi-final against New Zealand. Hours later, the record was broken again and British cycling had claimed yet another gold medal.

Gold in the team pursuit is Team GB's second cycling triumph in as many days after Callum Skinner, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny beat New Zealand in the men's team sprint cycling final on Thursday.

Their triumph continued Great Britain's dominance of the team sprint, having won the event in 2008 and 2012. Kenny secured his fourth Olympic gold and he can increase that tally further in the keirin and individual sprint events.

Hindes took his tally to two Olympic titles, having been part of the London 2012 sprint team, while 23-year-old Skinner claimed his first gold.