The Netherlands proved once again they only have themselves to beat, shaving fractions off their own record time not once, but twice on Tuesday evening in Paris to retain their track cycling team sprint gold medal.

The trio of Jeffrey Hoogland, Harrie Lavreysen and Roy van den Berg edged Great Britain's Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull by more than eight-tenths of a second to clinch victory.

The Dutch threw down the gauntlet on their opponents after setting a record-breaking time of 41.191 seconds in the heat. They also owned the previous best of 41.225 seconds achieved in February 2020.

That fresh record stood for less than an hour.

They eclipsed the 41-second barrier with a gold-winning time of 40.949 seconds in the final. Australia denied France a podium finish in the bronze medal race earlier, while China finished seventh.