After struggling in qualifying, Australia's Sam Welsford said winning a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics felt like a gold medal. The Australian foursome of Welsford, Lee Howard, Kelland O'Brien, and Lucas Plapp took the final podium spot on Wednesday after New Zealand fell in the bronze medal race.

Australia's gold medal hopes were dashed when they recorded only the fifth fastest time in the qualifying round. In the qualifying round, Alex Porter crashed with a broken handlebar and had to restart.

In a team pursuit event marked by crashes, Australia put in a strong first round to return to the bronze medal contention.

Italy broke the world record in the final against Denmark and ultimately won gold, but there was drama in the bronze medal race as well, with New Zealand's challenge effectively ended by Aaron Gate's fall.

"We know how that feels on day one. I hope they get over it and have a good rest of the competition," said Welsford, who agreed that Australia's eventual bronze medal felt like a gold medal. [I honestly think so. Honestly, we wanted to see if we could match the gold medal we got today. It's not the color we wanted, but after what we went through, to be on the podium today is something special."

Porter missed the final round after his earlier crash and watched from the sidelines as his compatriot took the bronze medal for Australia.

"This is the first time I've watched a team fight and felt like I was at 100% on the track," he said. Porter sympathized with New Zealand's misfortune.

"You don't want to win away from home like that in a bike race. They would feel the same way. You can see from their reactions, it's a different kind of bike racing. We've been hurt three times since day one and it's not a good win, but it's part of the sport."

In a tight race, New Zealand took the lead after 1,000m and held a 0.3 second lead over Australia when Gates crashed at the halfway point. The incident turned the race around and Australia quickly extended its lead, catching New Zealand with just over a lap to go.

"It was a seesaw race. I've raced this team a lot and I know it's always a great battle," Plapp said. 'It's going to be a dogfight, but I'm ready for it. We knew that right from the start. It was back and forth. We are here to fight. We have been fighting in pretty tough conditions for the last three days. To be on the podium is fitting for what we've been through.