Larry Cycling teammates Emma White and Lily Williams are all set to make their Tokyo Olympics debut in the women's team pursuit, earning two slots for the US team when qualifying begins on August 2 at the Izu Velodrome.

The Americans won silver in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, and Jennifer Valente and Chloe Dygert return as veterans from that team. The Rio pair, along with White and Williams, won gold at the 2020 Track World Championships, but the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has kept them out of the race since then, delaying their gold medal bid in Tokyo by a year.

"Our last track race, the World Championships in Berlin, was at the beginning of 2020," White told Cycling News when he attended the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships in June. But at the same time, it was the last big race for any country. There are a lot of new riders on the team, so the one-year extension was a plus for us."

White also said.

At the 2019 Road National Championships, White won the elite women's professional criterium title, placed third in the professional road race, and swept U23 honors in all three races that week: time trial, crit, and road race. He swept the U23 titles in the time trial, crit, and road race.

At the time of 2019, they were on different trade teams, White with Rally Cycling and Williams with Hagens Berman Supermint, but often faced off in cyclocross races across North America in the fall and winter.

"Coming from cyclocross, I am a firm believer in very short, punchy (moves). I believe that will help me on the track, especially in Pursuit," the 23-year-old White said.

"I think the other disciplines have made me stronger on the track. Before, I was kind of trying to spread myself out, trying to do my best in everything. Now I'm 100% focused on track and I'm thankful for the rally. I am thankful for Rally.

The 27-year-old Williams, now in his third year as a road pro, also agreed with teammate White that his cyclocross and road experience can only benefit his new focus on the track.

"During this time we have been part of the road program which couldn't be any better. Because they gave us the flexibility to train specifically for track, which I think was really necessary for both of us, who are fairly new riders to the track program. So having that time to focus for the last year and a half has made a huge difference for the team going into Tokyo," Williams told Cycling News.

"I've always wanted to be multi-disciplinary in cycling. I think that's really good for women's cycling. I'm grateful to be part of a program that allows me to do that."

"I've always wanted to be a part of a program that allows me to do that.

However, the differences between disciplines can sometimes be stark. The two laughed when he described Team Pursuit as an "endurance" discipline.

"Our event lasts four minutes and is considered an endurance event. Track sprinters, on the other hand, fly 250 meters, so they are like runners in the 100-meter dash. We are like the 800 meter runner," Williams explained.

After a year and a half of working out twice a day "every day," with lots of miles on the road and lots of time in the gym, the chance to race on the track again with Team USA is just a few hours away.

"We really don't know a lot about it. We're racing against time anyway, so the absence of other teams hasn't hurt us in the least. It's unknown what the other teams are doing, though."

"But we've certainly gotten a lot stronger over the past year, and we'll have to test that in Tokyo."

Team USA's 1.894-second gold medal victory over Great Britain at the 2020 World Championships was the fourth world championship title in women's team pursuit in the past five years. Qualifying for the Tokyo Games will begin at 15:54 Japan time on August 2, with an additional round and medal final on August 3.