After narrowly missing out on gold in the men's team pursuit, New Zealand faced Australia for the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

New Zealand and Australia were closely matched in the early stages of the 4,000-meter-long Team Pursuit. However, halfway through the race, three-time Olympian Aaron Gate abruptly made contact with his teammate's wheel, sending him across the board.

"It happened so fast," he said. 'I think I glanced up to see where Australia was. So I came down just under the front wheel and brushed it off as I started to turn."

"I've been in contact with the wheel many times before and nothing ever happened. So I'm disappointed that this happened at such an important time in the Olympics."

It was also announced today that Gate will withdraw from the Omnium after breaking her collarbone in the crash and will be replaced by Campbell Stewart, who won the event at the 2019 Track World Championships.

New Zealand's rival Australia was familiar with the feeling that things did not go according to plan, as Alex Porter fell hard in qualifying with a broken handlebar.

When the fall occurred, the New Zealand team of Gate, Stewart, Jordan Kirby, and Regan Gough had a 0.3 second lead over the Australians Sam Welsford, Lee Howard, Kel O'Brien, and Luke Plapp.

"We expected them [Australia] to go faster, and we did, but even a little bit of a gap on them. We were really comfortable at that point." Based on the data from the last couple of days, I knew they would follow us for about three kilometers."

"We were about to hit the last 1,500 meters. We set up exactly how we wanted to, and at the end of the day, I feel sorry for them, because I think they're going to have a lot of fun.

For New Zealand, the timing of the fall was particularly difficult, as they had to make sure that they had enough time to get the three riders to the finish line. It left New Zealand without three riders, and at that point the riders could not easily catch up to the other two. Australia eventually caught Goff and took the bronze medal.

Palmer said after the competition, however, that even if Gough had still made contact, it would have been difficult to win without Gates.

"The winner should have been decided by a narrow margin: ...... Even if we had managed to pull away from the other three riders, it would have been difficult," Palmer said. "I needed Gati in the last kilometer. I needed Gati in the last kilometer.

Now the men's New Zealand track endurance team is looking ahead to the omnium and Madison.

"One medal down and two left to cross the line," Palmer said.