CHRIS HOY WINS SPRINT GOLD

After Chris Hoy beat Kevin Sireau 2-0 in the sprint final, a banner in the crowd read 'Chris Hoy - The Real McHoy' - and you can't argue with that.

Scottish star Hoy, 32, won the world championship sprint title in his first crack at winning a medal.

It's Britain's first sprint world title since Reg Harris in 1954.

And for Hoy it puts him in the unique position of having won a world title in four different track disciplines - kilometre, team sprint, Keirin and now sprint.

At world championship level Hoy has won the four kilo titles, two team sprints, one Keirin and now one sprint title since breaking onto the scene in 1999. It's an awesome record.

Since the UCI decided to scrap the kilometre from the Olympic Games, Hoy has retrained his focus on the Keirin and sprint. In the past 18 months he strung together a 22-match unbeaten run in the Keirin. Now he's proved he can beat the very best at the sprint.

The turning point was surely yesterday's quarter-final clash with the reigning champion Theo Bos.

When he beat the Dutchman in a very tight deciding race to make the last four. That gave him the belief that he could go all the way.

Tonight he was in brilliant form as well as tactically smart. It was a bit of a stroll past Italy's Roberto Chiappa in the semi-finals but the final against Sireau consisted of two very tight battles. Sireau's mistake in the second race was obvious. Going from a long way out was the wrong tactic against a kilo rider.

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