England struck a Commonwealth Games record to steal the men's team pursuit gold from under Australia's nose on day one of track cycling in Glasgow.

England's quartet stopped the clock at 3 minutes 47.092 seconds — a Games best — while Australia's men, riding with two Paris Olympic champions in Oliver Bleddyn and Conor Leahy alongside Blake Agnoletto and James Moriarty, finished on 3:48.223. The margin was just over a second. In a team pursuit, four riders start on opposite sides of the velodrome and chase each other over 4000 metres, the clock stopping when the third man crosses the line. (The Guardian)

The defeat stung because Australia had looked untouchable through qualifying. They posted the fastest time in the men's team pursuit, the men's team sprint and the women's team pursuit — top of the pile in all three — only for England to deliver when it mattered most.

Australia's women had no such trouble. They defended their Commonwealth Games team pursuit title by beating New Zealand, riding 4:10.658 to the Kiwis' 4:12.775, and breaking their own Games record in the process. The quartet of Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, Claudia Marcks, Alyssa Polites and Georgia Baker got the job done. Baker, brought in to replace Sophie Edwards from the qualifying line-up, proved the decisive call by coach Ash Ankudinoff — herself a former team pursuit world champion. Wilson-Haffenden, a former junior time trial world champion on the road, underlined her range by anchoring the effort on the boards.

There was more Australian gold elsewhere on the opening day. Tara Neyland won the C4-C5 3000m individual pursuit — a para-cycling event for riders with limb impairments — while Kane Perris and his pilot Luke Zaccaria took bronze in the men's tandem B 1km time trial. The tandem pairs a visually impaired rider with a sighted pilot on a two-seater bike. Scotland won that event's gold, ahead of Wales. Jess Gallagher, with pilot Jacqueline Mengler-Mohr, added silver in the women's tandem B sprint behind New Zealand.

Australia's women's team sprint squad posted the fourth-fastest time in qualifying and will race for bronze.

The 2026 Commonwealth Games are being held in Glasgow, the city that hosted the same event in 2014, with track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. (Nine.com.au)

For Australia, day one cut both ways: a record-breaking women's defence to celebrate, and a men's pursuit gold that slipped through their fingers by the slimmest of margins.