Commonwealth Champ Tara Whitten Leads Cycling Team to a Bronze Medal

Canada won bronze in the women's team pursuit at the Olympic Velodrome on Saturday in London.

Tara Whitten of Edmonton, Gillian Carleton of Victoria and Jasmin Glaesser of Coquitlam, B.C., defeated Australia with a time of three minutes, 17.915 seconds to place third.

It was Canada's sixth bronze of the Games and ninth medal overall.

"We knew it was going to be a battle," Glaesser said. "We know they start off fast but we knew it was going to come down to the last lap. It was a challenge but we were 100 per cent committed to do our best."

Great Britain set its second world record of the day in the event, winning gold and beating the United States in the final with a lightning-fast time of 3:14.051 — slightly better than their previous record time of 3:14.682.

The Canadians lost to Britain in the first round but were fast enough to earn a berth for the bronze. Australia fell to the U.S., setting up the clash for the gold.

'It really feels amazing," Whitten said of winning the bronze. "We had to regroup [from yesterday] and I’m really proud of how the team came together today. We were just fighting the whole way and it’s just amazing to have done it."

Whitten, a two-time world champion in the omnium, will be competing in that event when it begins on Monday.

"We made a decision to use the energy of the crowd," she said. "It’s so loud, you can either let it distract you or feed off that energy. We just did our own ride. It’s been really exciting to see the depth of Canadian track cyclist now."

In the women's team pursuit, teams of three race over three kilometres.

With files from CBCSports.ca