Great Britain’s hopes of gold in the men’s team pursuit at Paris 2024 slipped away on the final lap after Ethan Hayter lost control of his bike and narrowly avoided a nasty crash.

The 1,000th medal in Team GB’s Olympic history was a silver one as Australia, who had been narrowly ahead on the time splits for almost the entire race, were able to ease over the line after the incident, taking their first title in this prestigious event since the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Britain, competitive again after the Tokyo Games saw them lose the crown they had held for so long, were left to wonder what might have been after the bizarre incident.

Hayter took to the start line along with Dan Bigham, Ethan Vernon and Charlie Tanfield as Ollie Wood dropped out of the team, meaning Britain had used a different line up in all three rounds of the competition.

Australia, who had set a new world record in Tuesday’s first round, got their noses in front after the first couple of laps and stayed there, albeit narrowly, for the rest of the race.

Hayter, who had been GB’s strongest rider in the first two rounds, was fighting to bring back the deficit when it all went wrong and he slipped forward on the bike, dropping down on to his top tube and apparently unable to lift himself back up.

Speaking to the BBC, Hayter said: “We were so close and I could see it. It was nearly five laps at the end and I just really gave too much, and my whole body went weak and I really struggled to hold myself on the bike in the end.

“Sorry to the guys but I think we gave everything and we can be proud of that silver medal.

“We were super happy to win a silver medal but it was really there for the taking for us and we kind of knew that. We went out to get it but just came short in the end, so it’s a shame.”

Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jess Roberts quickly followed up with a bronze in the women’s team pursuit.

The Team GB quartet were behind Italy for much of the race but came storming back in the final kilometre to win by two and a half seconds.

It was a strong result for a team that had to quickly recalibrate their plans for these Games after two-time Olympic champion Katie Archibald, one of the strongest track riders in the world, broke her ankle in June to be ruled out of the Games.