BEIJING: Britain won the men’s team pursuit gold medal yesterday, knocking nearly two seconds off the world record it set a day earlier and continuing the country’s strong showing in Olympic cycling. The team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and individual pursuit gold-medalist Bradley Wiggins finished the 4,000 meters in 3 minutes, 53.314 seconds at the Laoshan Velodrome.

The four were dominant in the final against Denmark, almost catching the Danish by the end of the 4,000 meters to the cheers of the crowd.

New Zealand beat Australia to take the bronze medal. The medal gave Britain 12 golds for the Olympics so far — half of those in cycling — already its best showing since 1920. It could take three more golds in the Velodrome today and another on the BMX track Thursday.

“It’s absolutely awesome,” said Manning. “It shows what you can do when you have four guys going together and working together.” The gold was the second for Wiggins, and he will be going for his third in the men’s madison today.

“A medal won’t do tomorrow. It’s got to be gold now,” said Wiggins. The Danish team was disappointed with its performance.

“We definitely thought we could put them under more pressure than we did,” said Alex Nicki Rasmussen, a member of the Danish team that also came second to the British in the World Championships in March.

“I could feel from after the second kilometer that it wasn’t going to be our day.” Earlier, world champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the women’s points race gold medal.

Vos dominated the race and was the only rider to successfully lap the field. She finished with 30 points, ahead of Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba, who won the final sprint to take silver with 18 points.

Leire Olaberria of Spain took the bronze with 13 points. The race was marred by a crash that took out Sarah Hammer of the United States, Satomi Wadami of Japan and Verena Jooss of Germany.

Vos, 21, had earlier failed to take a medal in the road race and the road time-trial. It was also the first cycling medal for the Dutch, previously a cycling powerhouse, who have suffered a string of problems and accidents since arriving in Beijing.

In the points race, racers ride 100 laps of the track, taking part in sprints every 10th lap for points. There is a bonus of 20 points for lapping the field.

“I was in front in the beginning of the race and after 20 laps,” Vos said. “I felt I had to do some laps easy, and then halfway I felt everybody got tired and I knew it was the moment to try to attack and get a lap.” There are three events to be decided today and Britain starts as favorite in all three.

World champion Victoria Pendleton faces Willy Kanis of the Netherlands in the first semifinal of the women’s sprint.

The other race pits Anna Meares of Australia against Guo Shuang of China.

The men’s sprint final could well be an all-British affair. World champion Chris Hoy, already the holder of two golds, faces Mickael Bourgain of France in the semifinal; his compatriot Jason Kenny, who only has one gold so far, will face Maximilian Levy of Germany.

The men’s madison, an exciting, anarchic relay race for teams of two with lap bonuses and intermediate sprints, will close out the track cycling competition. Wiggins will be looking for his third gold in the madison.

His partner is Mark Cavendish — winner of four stages of the Tour de France this year — and the two are world champions in the event.