BRITS BREAK THEIR OWN TEAM PURSUIT WORLD RECORD

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Great Britain's Games just keeps getting better. The team pursuit quartet made mincemeat of the Russians to set a new world record time of 3-55.205.

They smashed their own best time of 3-56.322, set at the World Championships in March and will now face Denmark in tomorrow's gold medal final. As in the qualifying round, Bradley Wiggins swung off in the last kilometre once his job was done, leaving Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas to finish the job.

At last someone stepped up to challenge the British, when Denmark rode a very handy 3-56.831. Now they will have the unenviable task of trying to topple the unstoppable. It's a repeat of the World Championship final and Britain will fancy their chances of going even quicker.

Rebecca Romero and Wendy Houvenaghel already had the gold and silver sewn up in the women's individual pursuit, and they raced each other in the final to sort it out.

Romero, the pre-Games favourite, got it with a confident ride. It took Britain's tally of cycling medals to five gold, three silver and two bronze.

In the sprint competitions, all three British competitors are through to the quarter-final stage, which will be held tomorrow.

Victoria Pendleton will face the woman she beat 2-0 in the final at the World Championships in March ? Lithuania's Simon Krupeckaite.

Chris Hoy goes up against Mohd Azizulhasni Awang while Jason Kenny faces Frenchman Kevin Sireau.

RESULTS

Denmark (Moerkoev, Joergensen, Madsen, Rasmussen) 3-56.831 beat France (Gaudin, Ladagnous, Riblon, Rousseau) 4-09.588

Australia (Bobridge, Brown, Jamieson, McGee) 3-58.633 beat Netherlands (Heimans, Mouris, Slippens, Stroetinga) CAUGHT

New Zealand (Bewley, Roulston, Ryan, Sergent) 3-57.536 beat Spain (Escobar, Maeztu, Muntaner, Miguel Parra) CAUGHT

Great Britain (Clancy, Manning, Thomas, Wiggins) 3-55.205 beat Russia (Kovalev, Markov, Petrovskiy, Serov) CAUGHT

BRONZE MEDAL RACE

To be held on Monday

New Zealand v Australia

GOLD MEDAL RACE

To be held on Monday

Great Britain v Denmark

Chris Hoy will face Malaysia's Mohd Azizulhasni Awang in Monday's best of three quarter-final.

Awang has already lost to Jason Kenny in the 1/8 round of the competition and had to come through to the last eight via the repechage.

Kenny's task could be a lot tougher. He faces the Frenchman Kevin Sireau, although in the competition so far Kenny has been quicker and Sireau had to come through the repechage too.

Mickael Bourgain meets Theo Bos, meaning one of the other threats to the British pair's medal hopes will go out tomorrow.

1/8 FINALS REPECHAGE

Heat 1

1. Kevin Sireau (France) 10.570 Q

2. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

3. Ryan Bayley (Australia)

Heat 2

1. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 11.010

2. Stefan Nimke (Germany)

3. Roberto Chiappa (Italy)

QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

Races on Monday, best of three goes through

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) v Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Kevin Sireau (France) v Jason Kenny (Great Britain)

Maximilian Levy (Germany) v Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Mickael Bourgain (France) v Theo Bos (Netherlands)

Victoria Pendleton will face Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite ? the woman she beat 2-0 in the final at the World Championships in March ? in Monday's quarter-final of the women's sprint.

Pendleton qualified fastest and then made short work of the Japanese rider Sakie Tsukuda in the first knock-out round.

RESULTS

Heat 1

1. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) Q

2. Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)

3. Sakie Tsukunda (Japan)

Heat 2

1. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) Q

2. Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia)

3. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)

QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

Races tomorrow, best of three goes through

Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) v Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)

Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) v Shuang Guo (China)

Anna Meares (Australia) v Clara Sanchez (France)

Willy Kanis (Netherlands) v Jennie Reed (USA)

RELATED NEWS: KENNAUGH WINS PRESTIGIOUS UNDER-23 ROAD RACE IN ITALY

While the British riders are dominating on the track, the next generation are being inspired to great success of their own.

Very early this morning we spoke to Rod Ellingworth, British Cycling's Academy coach about Peter Kennaugh's victory in the Fabio Casartelli memorial race in Italy yesterday. There's also a video on You Tube that we've embedded to capture the moment. It's not quite BBC quality but still great to see a British rider take such a prestigious under-23 race win.

Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny were both impressive as they marched into tomorrow's quarter finals, again avoiding the awkward repechage run-off that is the fate of the losers.

Once the 1/8 final repechage round is run later today, the draw for the quarter finals will be made. Then it is knock-out, best of three races, winner goes through, losers go out. That's when the real competition starts. And the final isn't until Tuesday, so this is a long campaign.

The Dutch pair Mulder and Bos are through into form, but Kevin Sireau will have to go through the repechage to reach the quarter-finals. Bos has been very low-key so far and word reaches us from our man in the Beijing velodrome that Bos told a Dutch journalist he's finding it very hard when he sees the form of the British pair.

RESULTS

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) beat Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Jason Kenny (Great Britain) beat Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Teun Mulder (Netherlands) beat Stefan Nimke (Germany)

Theo Bos (Netherlands) beat Kevin Sireau (France)

Mickael Bourgain (France) beat Roberto Chiappa (Italy)

Maximilian Levy (Germany) beat Ryan Bayley (Australia)

On this evidence Victoria Pendleton is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. She made short work of reaching the quarter finals, stretching well clear of Japan's Sakie Tsukuda, and having time to ease up in the finishing straight.

RESULTS

Winners into Monday's quarter finals, losers into repechage

Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.736 beat Sakie Tsukuda (Japan)

Shuang Guo (China) 11.410 beat Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia)

Anna Meares (Australia) 11.663 beat Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)

Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 12.155 beat Lisandra Guerra (Cuba) Relegated

Jennie Reed (USA) 11.955 beat Simona Krupeckaite (Liuthuania)

Clara Sanchez (France) 11.607 beat Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)

The draw for the 1/8 finals. Winners go through to tomorrow's 1/4 finals. Losers go into yet another repechage.

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) v Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Jason Kenny (Great Britain) v Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Stefan Nimke (Germany) v Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Kevin Sireau (France) v Theo Bos (Netherlands)

Mickael Bourgain (France) v Roberto Chiappa (Italy)

Ryan Bayley (Australia) v Maximilian Levy (Germany)

RESULTS

Heat 1

1. Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 10.899 Q

2. Mark French (Australia)

3. Denis Dmitriev (Russia)

Heat 2

1. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 10.959 Q

2. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)

3. Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Heat 3

1. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) 10.965 Q

2. Michael Blatchford (USA)

3. Lei Zhang (China)

Rebecca Romero won the battle of the Brits in the women's individual pursuit to complete the most remarkable transformation from rowing to cycling.

Wendy Houvenaghel, who stepped up significantly from her previous World Championship performances, had to settle for silver, which was still a very fine achievement.

Houvenaghel was looking to become the first Northern Irish athlete to win an Olympic gold medal since Mary Peters in the pentathlon in 1972.

And Romero, who won silver in the rowing quadruple sculls in Athens four years ago, wanted to better that.

Britain's only ever Olympic medal in the women's individual pursuit prior to today was Yvonne McGregor's bronze in Sydney eight years ago.

Romero was in control from the early stages and once in front, piled on the pressure.

It is Britain's fourth gold medal in the five track cycling events, and fifth cycling gold in all. It's also the only medal up for grabs today.

A reminder of that haul so far:

GOLD ? 5

Nicole Cooke, women's road race (Sunday, August 10)

Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff, men's team sprint (Friday, August 15)

Bradley Wiggins, men's individual pursuit (Saturday, August 16)

Chris Hoy, men's Keirin (Saturday, August 16)

Rebecca Romero, women's individual pursuit (Sunday, August 17)

SILVER ? 3

Emma Pooley, women's time trial (Wednesday, August 13)

Ross Edgar, men's Keirin (Saturday, August 16)

Wendy Houvenaghel, women's individual pursuit (Sunday, August 17)

BRONZE ? 2

Chris Newton, men's points race (Saturday, August 16)

Steven Burke, men's individual pursuit (Saturday, August 17)

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT

BRONZE MEDAL RACE

Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 3-31.413 beat Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 3-34.156

GOLD MEDAL RACE

Rebecca Romero (Great Britain) 3-28.321 beat Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 3-30.395

PODIUM

1. Rebecca Romero (Great Britain)
2. Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain)

3. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine)

Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny progressed smoothly into the 1/8 finals by beating Denis Dmitriev of Russia and Lukasz Kwiatkowski of Poland respectively.

So far, so good for the British pair who will wait for the draw for the 1/8 round after the repechages.

The threat is likely to come from the familiar direction in later rounds. The French pair Kevin Sireau and Mickael Bourgain look good, as does Ryan Bayley of Australia. Theo Bos made hard work of his match, but he was up against tough opposition in Mark French.

1/16 FINALS RESULTS

Winners into 1/8 finals, losers to repechage

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 10.607 beat Denis Dmitriev (Russia)

Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 10.672 beat Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Stefan Nimke (Germany) 10.828 beat Lei Zhang (China)

Kevin Sireau (France) 10.742 beat Michael Blatchford (USA)

Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.562 beat Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)

Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.840 beat Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Ryan Bayley (Australia) 10.762 beat Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 10.786 beat Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Theo Bos (Netherlands) 10.959 beat Mark French (Australia)

Britain's total dominance on the track continued in the early session. The team pursuit squad qualified fastest, more than two seconds quicker than than the second placed New Zealand team.

Victoria Pendleton topped qualifying with a new Olympic record in the women's sprint.

And Jason Kenny and then Chris Hoy broke the Olympic record for the 200metre flying start in quick succession to leave the two Brits one and two in the men's sprint qualifying.

Later today the sprint competitions continue with the knock-out races and the team pursuit continues with GB facing Russia in round one.

The only medals up for grabs today are in the women's individual pursuit. Britain already has gold and silver in the bag, with Rebecca Romero set to face Wendy Houvenaghel in the final.

So far in this Games, British riders have qualified fastest in every event on the track and won every race ? except the men's points race, and Chris Newton took bronze in that.

Join us later for more news from Beijing. The action resumes at 9.30am UK time with the men's sprint continuing.

Jason Kenny set a new lifetime best and Olympic record, breaking Australian Gary Neiwand's time, for the flying 200 metres in the men's sprint qualifying round.

A few minutes later Chris Hoy went quicker to leave Britain first and second in qualifying. They were the only two to go under 10 seconds.

It means Hoy will face Denis Dmitriev of Russia, with Kenny up against Lukasz Kwiatowski of Poland in the 1/16 finals.

Hoy is on course for his third gold of the Games after winning the team sprint on Friday and the Keirin yesterday.

ROUND 1/16 DRAW

Sunday 9.30am: Winners go through. Losers into repechage

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) v Denis Dmitriev (Russia)

Jason Kenny (Great Britain) v Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Lei Zhang (China) v Stefan Nimke (Germany)

Kevin Sireau (France) v Michael Blatchford (USA)

Mickael Bourgain (France) v Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)

Maximilian Levy (Germany) v Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Ryan Bayley (Australia) v Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Roberto Chiappa (Italy) v Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Mark French (Australia) v Theo Bos (Netherlands)

QUALIFYING ROUND RESULTS

1. Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 9.815sec

2. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 9.857

3. Stefan Nimke (Germany) 10.064

4. Kevin Sireau (France) 10.098

5. Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.123

6. Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.199

7. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 10.272

8. Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 10.314

9. Theo Bos (Netherlands) 10.318

10. Mark French (Australia) 10.337

11. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) 10.346

12. Ryan Bayley (Australia) 10.362

13. Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 10.373

14. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan) 10.391

15. Michael Blatchford (USA) 10.470

16. Lei Zhang (China) 10.497

17. Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland) 10.504

18. Denis Dmitriev (Russia) 10.565

Eliminated

19. Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) 10.569

20. Vasileios Reppas (Greece) 10.966

21. Daniel Novikov (Estonia) 11.187

Victoria Pendleton got her campaign off to the perfect start with a new Olympic record time for the 200 metre flying start.

It was a slightly peculiar session because all 12 riders knew they would go through to the 1/8 finals, with the times sorting out the draw for the knock-out competition.

Pendleton, whose time for 200 metres was 10.963 seconds, will face Sakie Tsukada of Japan later today. Pendleton's new Olympic record was the only time inside 11 seconds.

1/8 FINALS DRAW

Sunday 10.25am: Winners go through to 1/4 final, losers into repechage round

Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) v Sakie Tsukuda (Japan)

Shuang Guo (China) v Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia)

Anna Meares (Australia) v Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)

Lisandra Guerra (Cuba) v Willy Kanis (Netherlands)

Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) v Jennie Reed (USA)

Clara Sanchez (France) v Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)

QUALIFYING ROUND RESULTS

1. Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 10.963sec

2. Shuang Guo (China) 11.106

3. Anna Meares (Australia) 11.140

4. Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 11.167

5. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 11.222

6. Clara Sanchez (France) 11.365

7. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 11.372

8. Jennie Reed (USA) 11.400

9. Lisandra Guerra (Cuba) 11.462

10. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 11.533

11. Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia) 11.544

12. Sakie Tsukuda (Japan) 12.134

Great Britain?s first-choice line-up of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins qualified fastest and face Russia in the first round later today (11.25am UK time).

New Zealand were the only other team under four minutes as the expected threat from Denmark failed to materialize.

Australia?s time was almost five seconds slower than Great Britain?s.

Britain need to beat the Russians and post one of the two fastest winning times to make Monday?s gold medal race. The only hazard for the British quartet is if they catch the Russians, which seems a distinct possibility, and lose time getting past.

The Dutch had a disaster before the race. Niki Terpstra, who rides for Milram as a professional on the road, was knocked off his bike by a car on his way to the velodrome and reportedly broke his arm. Jens Mouris replaced him in the line-up but because of the delay the rest of the Dutch team only arrived at the venue with half an hour to spare.

FIRST ROUND DRAW

Denmark v France

Australia v Netherlands

New Zealand v Spain

Great Britain v Russia

Fastest two winners go through to gold medal race, other two winners will contest bronze. Losers go out.

QUALIFYING ROUND RESULTS

1. Great Britain (Clancy, Manning, Thomas, Wiggins) 3-57.101

2. New Zealand (Bewley, Gough, Ryan, Sergent) 3-59.277

3. Australia (Bobridge, Jamieson, McGee, Roberts) 4-02.041

4. Denmark (Christensen, Joergensen, Madsen, Rasmussen) 4-02.191

5. France (Gaudin, Ladagnous, Riblon, Rousseau) 4-03.679

6. Netherlands (Heimans, Mouris, Slippens, Stroetinga) 4-04.806

7. Spain (Escobar, Maeztu, Muntaner, Miguel Parra) 4-06.509

8. Russia (Markov, Petrovskiy, Serov, Trusov) 4-06.518

Eliminated

9 Ukraine (Dyudya, Polatayko, Polischyuk, Shchedov) 4-07.883

10 Colombia (Arango, Castro, Forero, Perez) 4-11.397

Day two in pictures

Sunday's action as it happened

Preview: Sunday at the Laoshan

Day two at the track: Summary of the action

Hoy and Edgar clean up in the Keirin

Wiggins gets pursuit gold, Burke wins bronze

Newton storms to bronze in points race

Saturday's action as it happened: Two gold, a silver and two bronze for Britain

Blog: Life in Laoshan

Day one in pictures

Brits blast to team sprint gold

Day one at the track: Summary of the action

Friday's action as it happened: Gold for team sprint trio; Wiggins, Houvenaghel and Romero well in control

Burke blasts to new individual pursuit PB

British track stars raring to go

What makes the Laoshan such a challenge

Picture special: CW takes you inside the Laoshan velodrome

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Friday's preview

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How many medals will Britain's riders win?

Positive test for cyclist at Olympic Games

Bettini chasing second Olympic gold

Romero poses nude for ad

British quartet eyeing new world record

As Olympics approach two new drugs emerge

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Beijing Blog 2

Beijing Blog 3

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