Cycling: Kiwi track cyclists take silver medal after being blitzed by Denmark's world record ride

New Zealand were no match for the flying Danes. Photo / Photosport

Denmark beat New Zealand for the men's team pursuit gold medal on the second day of the track cycling world championships in Berlin.

In doing so, Denmark set a world record time of 3m 44.672s. New Zealand clocked 3m 49.712s in the final.

New Zealand were 2.5s behind the Danes at the halfway mark, clawed it back to 2s at 3000m before Denmark powered away to blitz the world record, which had been lowered several times during the championships.

"It is our first world championships for a couple of years with a fully developed team that is really cohesive and on the same path and plan," said Jordan Kerby, who moved to New Zealand from Australia three years ago.

"We went out there over the last two days and we executed as fast as we could ride.

"We went into the final with the idea of racing this as fast as we could and what would be, would be. We could only control how fast we can go. It is a great improvement and a great stepping stone towards Tokyo."

Kerby said the team pursuit is evolving rapidly.

"It is getting faster and faster, and in an Olympic year, times are going to tumble even further.

"Teams are going consistently under 3m 48s now and it is turning into a bit of a sprint race.

"If you're not keeping up, you're being left behind. I think we're on the right trend with that at the moment."

The New Zealand women's team pursuit did not advance to the medal round.

Having already qualified for Tokyo, they have trained through the championships, deciding on a single peak in their Olympic preparations.

"Overall, we finished the two rides well. The result didn't show the ability," said coach Ross Machejefski.

"We have qualified for Tokyo, so chose not to peak for this and so prepare early for Tokyo.

"We tried to go out to win that heat and put pressure on the United States. We had a couple of technical execution lapses but we went out there with great intent and were running under world record pace but it came unstuck, as it invariably does unless you are perfect.

"We've proved to ourselves that we're right there and can match the speed of the others."

Natasha Hansen broke her national record in sprint qualifying, clocking 10.638s, but both she and teammate Olivia Podmore were beaten in the first round.

Sprinter Sam Webster made it through to the quarter-finals of the keirin while teammate Eddie Dawkins lost out in the repechage and Nick Kergozou was unplaced in the scratch race.