Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's individual pursuit


The women's individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 17 at the Laoshan Velodrome.
The first round of this track cycling event consisted of head-to-head races over a 3000 m distance, but with the results being treated as time trial results rather than elimination rounds. The top eight times from the first round qualified the cyclists for the elimination round, and either or both of the cyclists in each first round race could move on. In the match round, the eight cyclists were paired off according to the seeding from the first round. The winner of each match round match advanced to the final, while the four losers were given final rankings based on their times in the match round. The four finalists were placed into the gold medal match and bronze medal match based on their times in the match round.

Competition format

The thirteen cyclists were matched into six two-rider heats and one heat of a single rider in the preliminary round. The eight riders with the fastest recorded times progressed to the match rounds.
In the match round, the top eight riders from the preliminaries were matched together, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5, for the semifinals. In the semifinals, the winner of each match advanced to race for a medal; the two fastest raced for gold and silver, while the two slower winners faced each other for the bronze.

Schedule

All times are China standard time
DateTimeRound
Friday, 15 August 200818:00Qualification
Saturday, 16 August 200817:05Match round
Sunday, 17 August 200817:05Final

Results

Qualification

RankHeatCyclistNationResultNotes
16Wendy Houvenaghel3:28.443Q
27Rebecca Romero3:28.641Q
35Lesya Kalytovska3:31.942Q
45Alison Shanks3:34.312Q
56Sarah Hammer3:35.471Q
64Vilija Sereikaitė3:36.063Q
77Katie Mactier3:38.178Q
82Lada Kozlíková3:39.561Q
93Karin Thürig3:40.862
104María Luisa Calle3:41.175
113Verena Jooss3:44.480
122Svetlana Pauliukaitė3:45.691
131Evelyn García3:56.849

Match rounds

Semifinals

Qualification rule: Two fastest cyclists advance to the gold medal match, while the next two to the bronze medal match.
RankHeatCyclistNationResultNotes
13Rebecca Romero3:27.703Q
24Wendy Houvenaghel3:27.829Q
32Lesya Kalytovska3:31.785q
41Alison Shanks3:32.478q
51Sarah Hammer3:34.237
62Vilija Sereikaitė3:36.808
73Katie Mactier
84Lada Kozlíková

Medal round

;Bronze medal match
RankCyclistNationResultNotes
Lesya Kalytovska3:31.413
4Alison Shanks3:34.156

;Gold medal match
RankCyclistNationResultNotes
Rebecca Romero3:28.321
Wendy Houvenaghel3:30.395