# Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's individual pursuit

The women's individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 17 at the Laoshan Velodrome.
The first round of this track cycling event consisted of head-to-head races over a 3000 m distance, but with the results being treated as time trial results rather than elimination rounds. The top eight times from the first round qualified the cyclists for the elimination round, and either or both of the cyclists in each first round race could move on. In the match round, the eight cyclists were paired off according to the seeding from the first round. The winner of each match round match advanced to the final, while the four losers were given final rankings (5th through 8th) based on their times in the match round. The four finalists were placed into the gold medal match and bronze medal match based on their times in the match round.

## Competition format

The thirteen cyclists were matched into six two-rider heats and one heat of a single rider in the preliminary round. The eight riders with the fastest recorded times progressed to the match rounds.
In the match round, the top eight riders from the preliminaries were matched together, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5, for the semifinals. In the semifinals, the winner of each match advanced to race for a medal; the two fastest raced for gold and silver, while the two slower winners faced each other for the bronze.

## Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 15 August 2008 | 18:00 | Qualification |
| Saturday, 16 August 2008 | 17:05 | Match round |
| Sunday, 17 August 2008 | 17:05 | Final |

## Results
### Qualification

| Rank | Heat | Cyclist | Nation | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Wendy Houvenaghel | Great Britain | 3:28.443 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Rebecca Romero | Great Britain | 3:28.641 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Lesya Kalytovska | Ukraine | 3:31.942 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Alison Shanks | New Zealand | 3:34.312 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Sarah Hammer | United States | 3:35.471 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | Vilija Sereikaitė | Lithuania | 3:36.063 | Q |
| 7 | 7 | Katie Mactier | Australia | 3:38.178 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Lada Kozlíková | Czech Republic | 3:39.561 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Karin Thürig | Switzerland | 3:40.862 | |
| 10 | 4 | María Luisa Calle | Colombia | 3:41.175 | |
| 11 | 3 | Verena Jooss | Germany | 3:44.480 | |
| 12 | 2 | Svetlana Pauliukaitė | Lithuania | 3:45.691 | |
| 13 | 1 | Evelyn García | El Salvador | 3:56.849 | |

### Match rounds
#### Semifinals

Qualification rule: Two fastest cyclists advance to the gold medal match (Q), while the next two to the bronze medal match (q).
| Rank | Heat | Cyclist | Nation | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Rebecca Romero | Great Britain | 3:27.703 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Wendy Houvenaghel | Great Britain | 3:27.829 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Lesya Kalytovska | Ukraine | 3:31.785 | q |
| 4 | 1 | Alison Shanks | New Zealand | 3:32.478 | q |
| 5 | 1 | Sarah Hammer | United States | 3:34.237 | |
| 6 | 2 | Vilija Sereikaitė | Lithuania | 3:36.808 | |
| 7 | 3 | Katie Mactier | Australia | LAP | |
| 8 | 4 | Lada Kozlíková | Czech Republic | DNF | |

#### Medal round
##### Bronze medal match

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Result | Notes |
| | Lesya Kalytovska | Ukraine | 3:31.413 | |
| 4 | Alison Shanks | New Zealand | 3:34.156 | |

##### Gold medal match

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Result | Notes |
| | Rebecca Romero | Great Britain | 3:28.321 | |
| | Wendy Houvenaghel | Great Britain | 3:30.395 | |