Team pursuit

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[edit] Cycling

The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. The objective is to catch and overtake the other team, but most events are decided on the fastest time over the race distance, normally 4,000 metres.

Riders in a team follow each other very closely in line to minimise total drag, and periodically the lead rider in the team (who works the hardest) will peel off the front, swing up the track banking and join the "train" of riders at the rear of the team. Since the winning team is decided by whichever team's third rider crosses the line first, it is common for one rider in the team to do more than their share of the front position in the first part of the race, then drop out towards the end.

[edit] Speed Skating

In long track speed skating, team pursuit was a new event in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided in February 2004 to add this event, which was allowed due to available competition days after restructuring the Olympic competition schedule for speed skating. The event was introduced at international level at the World Junior Championships around the turn of the millennium, and to the World Cup in 2003. The 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games were the first Winter Olympics to host this team event.