New Zealand are shaping as favourites to race for gold at the Paris Olympics in track cycling's women's team pursuit

Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman , Nicole Shields and Ally Wollaston have topped the qualifying round.

They've whizzed around the Siberian pine in a time of four minutes 4.679 seconds time - 0.437 of a second shy of the world record set by Germany at the Tokyo Games.

A win against Italy in the first round tonight would see them into the decider tomorrow morning.

Botha has explained to Sky Sport why the result is significant.



Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Keegan Hornblow and Tom Sexton's chances of riding for bronze have been dashed in the men's equivalent despite blitzing Belgium in their six-versus-seven ride-off.