Kelland O'Brien, Sam Welsford, Leigh Howard and Lucas Plapp - who came in for Alex Porter who was injured in the crash in qualifying on Monday - upstaged New Zealand in their bronze medal ride-off on Wednesday night. 

In a thrilling showdown, the Kiwis led by just 0.048 of a second at the 2km half-way mark before one of their riders Aaron Gate crashed after touching wheels with his teammate. 

Australia marched on and the race was called off when they lapped the New Zealanders a short time later. 

"We've raced these boys (New Zealand) quite a lot and we always know it's going to be a dog fight and we were prepared for that," O'Brien said. 

"It was bouncing back and forth, us boys were here for the fight and I'm bloody proud we fought for the last three days to be here through some pretty tough moments. 

"You never want to win a bike race that way, I'm sure these boys feel the same, you could see it in their reaction, but it's a part of bike racing and we got dealt a pretty rough hand on day one. 

"It's been a crazy few days and even more hectic five years, we've been through a lot together and we wanted gold, that's what we came for, but in some respects we can hold our heads high. 

"We had to win a bike race to get bronze and over the last 72 hours we really showed what we can do as a team on and off the bike, I'm so proud to be part of this group of guys and one I'll remember for a long time." 

Porter - who has also received a bronze medal given he was involved in qualifying - said he felt as though he was on the track with his teammates. 

"I was saying to Sam (Welsford) this is the first time I've watched a team pursuit and felt like I was 100 per cent out there on the track," he said. 

"They had my back the whole way through this process and I was so pleased they could go out there and have the chance to show everyone what they're capable of." 

Welsford, who won team pursuit silver in Rio in 2016, said he was incredibly proud of his teammates and that bronze was as good as gold in the circumstances. 

"For us to bounce back after what happened on the first day was pretty special, we wanted to fight back and show that true Aussie Olympic spirit and fight all the way to the line no matter the result," he said. 

"After the rough start we had we went out today and if we got a medal it's almost worth gold to us. It's not the colour we wanted but for us to be on the podium after everything we've been through is just as special I think." 

At 31, Howard is the oldest member of the team and said he had relished being part of the journey after returning to the track from a stint on the road. 

"We all have our experience in one way and another and we lean on each other, every person has their story of how they got here and the challenges they've been through," he said. 

"We got the absolute maximum out of what we could in this competition with how it started so just thanks to the guys, the whole Australian team and everyone back home." 

The gold medal was won by Italy who hunted down Denmark in the final three laps and posted a world record time of 3mins 42.03secs. 

In other racing, women's sprinter Kaarle McCulloch progressed to the quarter finals of the keirin on Thursday by finishing second in her repechage behind Hong Kong's Wai Sze Lee. 

"The first race I was a bit nervous and didn't really execute to my strategy, but my second race I definitely nailed it and really happy to get the jump on Wai Sze Lee even though she beat me at the end, but I got through," McCulloch said. 

"I feel much more composed now and feel my strategy is on point and I've got a good chance. 

"I can see across the board there's a bit of nerves, nobody has raced for a year and a half, but as the competition goes (on) we'll see better and better racing and I hope that's going to happen to me." 

In the men's sprint, Australians Matthew Richardson and Nathan Hart qualified 21st and 22nd respectively before they were eliminated in the next round. 

Reece Homfray