Canada falls shy of 3rd consecutive bronze with loss to U.S. in women's team pursuit

Canada's women's track cycling team pursuit squad fell just shy of a third consecutive bronze medal, falling to the U.S. on Tuesday at the Izu Velodrome.

The quartet of Allison Beveridge, Annie Foreman-Mackey, Ariane Bonhomme and Georgia Simmerling finished with a time of four minutes 10.552 seconds, with the Americans clocking in at 4:08.040.

Following a forgettable performance in the qualifying round on Monday, which saw the Canadians finish last with a time of 4:15.832, Canada was forced to only be able to push for a berth into the bronze medal final.

But Canada rebounded from that showing with a win over France in heats in a Canadian record time of 4:09.249.

WATCH | Canada falls to U.S. in bronze medal final of women's team pursuit:

With that, it appeared the Canadians may have been peaking at just the right time to be able to add to their country's Olympic medal haul.

It wasn't meant to be. The team was never able to grab hold of the lead, with the Americans only continuing to pad their lead as the race went on.

In the gold-medal final, Germany was able to capture gold with a world record time of 4:04.242, defeating Great Britain, which finished with a time of 4:10.607.

In the men's team pursuit, Canada was only able to compete for the final race for fifth and sixth place, despite defeating Germany in heat one. Australia and New Zealand will instead compete for bronze.

Italy will compete for gold against Denmark.

Denmark was ruled to advance despite not finishing its heat against Great Britain. A crash between two cyclists from Denmark and Great Britain late in the race resulted in a delayed decision as to who would advance.

The final will take place Wednesday.