LONDON (AP) -- British track cyclists are looking to extend their domination of the pine boards at the Olympic Velodrome on Saturday in the women's team pursuit.
Like in Beijing, the Britons are in a class of their own in London and have already claimed three gold medals after just two days of competition and four events.
Four years ago, they destroyed the rest of the field and came back from China with seven out of 10 possible gold and a total of 12 medals on the track.
Cycling's world governing body has since modified its rules, allowing only one athlete per nation in the sprint events. Yet the mighty British look capable of repeating the feat.
With the help of their buoyant fans, Britain has stamped its authority early.
"Phenomenal, unbelievable," said British coach Dan Hunt after Victoria Pendleton won the Olympic keirin. Minutes before, the British men's pursuit team had won its second straight Olympic gold medal, shattering the world record it had set the previous day.
"You just hope all the planning, all the hard work and all the preparation comes together," he said. "We have been through some tough times in the team over the last 10 or 12 months. We had a lot of doubters early on. We've had our successes and we have had our failures and we have come here and dominated."
The British women's team posted a time of 3 minutes, 15.669 seconds to break the mark of 3:15.720 that they set at the world championships in April.
Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell were cheered on by a raucous crowd inside the velodrome that included Tour de France champion and Olympic time trial gold medalist Bradley Wiggins.
The pursuit is one of the four new events for women added this year to the Olympic program with the team sprint, the omnium, and the keirin. King, Trott and Rowsell are the reigning world champions, they are unbeaten in 2012 and look set to become the first Olympic champions in that event.
They were so dominant in qualifying for the 3,000 meters race against the clock that their closest rivals, the Americans, lagged almost four seconds behind.
"Great Britain is obviously in a league of its own," said Benjamin Sharp, the director of track endurance programs for USA Cycling.
"We're just going to keep hammering them. We have two more rounds to go, so obviously there's an opportunity to falter and an opportunity for us to overtake them. Realistically, we just have to keep doing what we're doing and execute to the best of our ability. I think that we'd be foolish to think that Great Britain is not the class of the field, but the race has two rounds and anything can happen in those two rounds."
The men's sprint is also starting on Sunday, with a time trial qualifying run followed by two rounds of matches and the final being held on Monday.
World champion Gregory Bauge will be facing the challenge of the other pre-race favorite, Jason Kenny, another British rider. Kenny was awarded the sole spot available in that event at the expense of defending champion Sir Chris Hoy.
Bauge, chasing a first Olympic title in the sprint for a Frenchman in 40 years, will try to make up for the disappointment of losing to the Britons in the team sprint.
"Kenny is a formidable opponent. He won silver at the worlds, silver at the 2008 Games and was world champion," Bauge said. "But I think I've got the edge over him, because he's never beaten me."
The men's omnium, making its Olympic debut, also starts on Saturday. It's like a pentathlon of cycling, apart from the difference that there is six events in the omnium: the flying 250-meter time trial, the 30-km points race, the elimination race, the individual pursuit, the 15-kilometer scratch race and the one-kilometer time trial.
