Cycling - Britain win gold in men's team sprint

2016 Rio Olympics - Cycling Track - Victory Ceremony - Men's Team Sprint Victory Ceremony - Rio Olympic Velodrome - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 11/08/2016. Philip Hindes (GBR) of Great Britain, Jason Kenny (GBR) of Great Britain and Callum Skinner (GBR) of Great Britain pose with their gold medals. REUTERS/Matthew Childs

By Martyn Herman

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Britain won the men's track cycling team sprint gold for the third consecutive Olympics after defeating New Zealand on Thursday, with Callum Skinner anchoring them to victory in the first event of the track programme.

Skinner, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes set the third Olympic record of the day to beat the world champions by the narrowest of margins.

Britain clocked 42.440 for the three laps of the 250 metre circuit, 0.102 seconds quicker than New Zealand who were bidding for their first Olympic gold in the discipline.

Despite reports of the track being slow beforehand, Britain set an Olympic record in the qualifying round, New Zealand, anchored by Eddie Dawkins went even quicker in round one and Britain went faster still in the final.

New Zealand led early in the race but Britain surged back.

France beat Australia to win the bronze medal.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Neil Robinson and Andrew Hay)