PARIS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States won the gold medal in the women's team pursuit, beating New Zealand in a time of 4:04.306 to their rivals' 4:04.927 at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.

The win means U.S. cyclist Kristen Faulkner will leave Paris with a gold medal for track and another gold in the road event after her triumph in Sunday's road race, while her team-mate Chloe Dygert also has compensation after falling in both the road race and time trial.

"[If someone had said I'd win two medals] I don't know what I would have said, it didn't seem impossible but it seemed improbable," she explained.

"I would have been happy to walk away with one medal, but to have two golds is a dream come true, it is more than I expected," said Faulkner in the post-race press conference.

Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams, set a punishing pace for the Americans in the first kilometers and they were 1.3 seconds up by the halfway stage.

New Zealand were the fastest team in qualifying on Monday and although they reduced the gap, its wasn't enough, but have the consolation of being only the fifth nation to win an Olympic medal in this event.

The British quartet of Elinor Barker, Jose Knight, Anne Morris and Jessica Roberts claimed bronze thanks to a powerful last 1,500 meters, coming back from over a second down to beat Italy by over two seconds.

Team pursuit sees teams of four riders start of opposite sides of the 250-meter track before completing 16 circuits as quickly as possible. It is a test of strength, speed and organization as it is vital for the riders to stay as close as possible to each other to cut down on wind resistance. Enditem

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