The British Team Pursuit squads that were shut out by New Zealand (men) and Australia (women) at the World Championships in Paris this past spring, came to the European Championships ready for action by winning their qualifying rounds in dominant fashion. It is not hard to find the engines of their success with the women’s team powered by double Olympic Champion Laura Trott taking almost a full ten seconds out of their nearest rival, the Russians. Then the British men’s squad, led by four-time Olympic Champion Bradley Wiggins, finished ahead of the heartily cheered hometown Swiss foursome by 1.749 seconds. These two teams remained alone in front of the “magic” four-minute mark.

A lot would have to happen for the British women not to come away with the gold medal on Thursday. Similarly, Wiggins’ team is readying itself for gold. Though the crowd in Grenchen still wants to believe in a Swiss miracle, particularly considering how well their Team Pursuit unfolded, under their breaths, the riders and attendants for the Swiss team would also be happy to come away with the silver.

But there is still a lot of racing that has to happen. In previous years, taking second in the qualifying rounds meant you were a shoe-in for the finals. But now nothing is assured to happen on day two. For the semifinals, the British will take on the fourth-placed Russians, while the Swiss will face the third place French. The winners to come out of these two heats will then fight for the gold medal. But then the losers are not automatically qualified for the bronze medal battle. Instead, the race for third place then is contested by the two fastest teams in the next round. That means that even a team which finished in between fifth to eighth place will have a chance to fight for a medal.