TRACK WORLDS DAY 3: AS IT HAPPENED
Another two gold medals for Britain, taking the total to six in three days.
The women's team pursuiters and Chris Hoy added gold medals and with two days of competition to go sets up the possibility of Britain equalling - or even beating - last year's total of seven they won in Majorca.
Tomorrow we'll have news flashes, reports and reaction from the riders throughout the afternoon.
MEDAL TABLE
After day three
1 Great Britain (6 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
2 Belarus (2 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze)
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3 France (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
4 Cuba (1 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze)
5 Netherlands (0 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
6 Lithuania (0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
= Denmark (0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
= USA (0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
= China (0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
= Ukraine (0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
11 Germany (0 gold, 0 silver, 3 bronze)
12 Australia (0 gold, 0 silver, 2 bronze)
13 Russia (0 gold, 0 silver, 1 bronze)
21.45 WOMEN'S SPRINT 5th TO 8th PLACES
5th Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
6th Clara Sanchez (France)
7th Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)
8th Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
21.25 The men's sprint medal races round off the evening here in Manchester.
| SPRINT |
RESULTS
1 Chris Hoy (Great Britain)
2 Kevin Sireau (France)
3 Mickael Bourgain (France)
GOLD MEDAL FINAL
CHRIS HOY (Great Britain) v KEVIN SIREAU (France)
Race 1: Massive cheers for Hoy as his name is announced to the crowd. This is it. Can he get an early advantage over the World Cup sprint champion? That was astonishingly close Sireau went hard with a lap and a half to go. Hoy countered but it was hard work getting on terms. Forced to come wide, a long way round, on the final bend, he gave it absolutely everything and got it by a tyre's width. Hoy leads 1-0
Race 2: HOY BEATS THE FRENCH Sireau led it out and Hoy was in a fantastic position. With a lap to go, our reporter Stephen Farrand said: "There's no way he's going to lose this." And he was right. Gold for Hoy. Hoy wins 2-0
BRONZE MEDAL FINAL
MICKAEL BOURGAIN (France) v ROBERTO CHIAPPA (Italy)
Race 1: Bourgain takes it but it was closer than perhaps could have been expected. Bourgain leads 1-0
Race 2: Pretty comfortable for Bourgain to clinch the bronze. Bourgain wins 2-0
| SPRINT |
1/4 FINALS
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) beats Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 2-0
Shuang Guo (China) beats Clara Sanchez (France) 2-1
Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) beats Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 2-1
Jennie Reed (USA) beats Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 2-0
21.22 Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania beats Kanis to reach the semi-finals. The last four are Pendleton, Krupeckaite, Reed and Guo.
21.18 Comfortable win for Shuang Guo of China, who was relegated in the second race. That makes it 2-0 over Sanchez.
21.11 The British team pursuit trio are on the podium now and very happy they look too. That's the fifth gold medal GB have won in three days of competition. That was one of the most entertaining events of the week so far.
| SPRINT |
GOLD MEDAL FINAL
CHRIS HOY (Great Britain) v KEVIN SIREAU (France)
Race 1: Massive cheers for Hoy as his name is announced to the crowd. This is it. Can he get an early advantage over the World Cup sprint champion? That was astonishingly close Sireau went hard with a lap and a half to go. Hoy countered but it was hard work getting on terms. Forced to come wide, a long way round, on the final bend, he gave it absolutely everything and got it by a tyre's width. Hoy leads 1-0
BRONZE MEDAL FINAL
MICKAEL BOURGAIN (France) v ROBERTO CHIAPPA (Italy)
Race 1: Bourgain takes it but it was closer than perhaps could have been expected. Bourgain leads 1-0
| SPRINT |
1/4 FINALS
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) beats Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 2-0
Shuang Guo (China) tied with Clara Sanchez (France) 1-1
Willy Kanis (Netherlands) tied with Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 1-1
Jennie Reed (USA) beats Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 2-0
20.58 Jennie Reed of USA joins Pendleton in tomorrow's semi-finals. The other two matches go to a third, deciding sprint.
20.57 Simona Krupeckaite ties it up with Willy Kanis after another close battle.
20.53 Shuang Guo crosses the line ahead of Clara Sanchez but the Chinese rider bumped against her opponent and the judges over-turned the result. So that's 1-1.
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20.50 Yvonne Hijgenaar was obviously scared of Pendleton's finish because she tried an early one. It was to no avail as Pendleton came past in style to go through to the semi-finals 2-0.
| POINTS RACE |
Last year
Gold Joan Llaneras (Spain)
Silver Iljo Keisse (Belgium)
Bronze Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia)
The Brits Chris Newton (did not qualify for the final)
The British challenge
Mark Cavendish
20.45 KIRIYENKA WINS POINTS RACE A thrilling finale to the scratch race as Christophe Riblon of France attacked before the penultimate sprint, then went again with nine laps to go.
He ploughed on trying to close the gap to the back of the field to gain the lap that would have catapulted him into the lead.
The leader Vasiliy Kiriyenka of Belarus tried to react at first but couldn't close it down.
Riblon battled on knowing that even if he won the five points on the line would not be enough.
So Kiriyenka wins gold, Riblon a deserved silver for being just about the only rider to attack (Schep tried something early on and Kadlec had a little dig).
It wasn't a classic and take it from me, I feel like I've ridden a points race myself after those updates.
Mark Cavendish was 15th with three points.
AFTER 160 LAPS 16th and final sprint
1 Christophe Riblon (France) 5pts
2 Martino Marcotto (Italy) 3pts
3 Someone 2pts
4 Someone else 1pt
Final overall
1 Vasily Kiriyenka (Belarus) 24pts
2 Christophe Riblon (France) 23pts
3 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 19pts
AFTER 150 LAPS 15th sprint
1 Christophe Riblon (France) 5pts
2 Christian Jorgensen (Denmark) 3pts
3 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 2pts
4 Vasily Kiriyenka (Belarus) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 24pts
20.38 A big attack by Christophe Riblon as he tries to take a lap. He's edging closer and closer to the back of the bunch.
AFTER 140 LAPS 14th sprint
1 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 5pts
2 Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia) 3pts
3 Vasiliy Kiriyenka (Belarus) 2pts
4 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 23pts
20.33 A split occurred before the 13th sprint. Kiriyenka was in it and scored points. Schep wasn't. So Kiriyenka's back in the lead. 30 laps to go, three more sprints.
AFTER 130 LAPS 13th sprint
1 Christophe Riblon 5pts
2 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 3pts
3 Vasiliy Kiriyenka (Belarus) 2pts
4 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 21pts
20.30 Cavendish scores his first points with a second place. There are 40 laps to go, four more sprints. Time's running out for a move of some sort to go away. Kiriyenka and Schep are tied in the lead.
AFTER 120 LAPS 12th sprint
1 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 5pts
2 Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) 3pts
3 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 2pts
4 Martino Marcotto (Italy) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 19pts, Schep 19pts
AFTER 110 LAPS 11th sprint
1 Christophe Riblon (France) 5pts
2 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 3pts
3 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 2pts
4 Joan Llanares (Spain) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 19pts
AFTER 100 LAPS 10th sprint
1 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 5pts
2 Vasiliy Kiriyenka (Belarus) 3pts
3 Makoto Iljima (Japan) 2pts
4 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 1pt
Leader: Kiryenka 19pts
20.22 The Canadian rider Zach Bell has crashed out. Mark Cavendish just made a little dig that got the crowd excited but he was pegged back and has settled in at the back again.
AFTER 90 LAPS Ninth sprint
1 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 5pts
2 Christophe Riblon (France) 3pts
3 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 2pts
4 Marco Arriagada (Chile) 1pt
Leader: Kiryenka 16pts
20.19 At the halfway mark, they've been on the track for 20 minutes and so far it's been fast but tentative in terms of attacks. The Dutch rider Peter Schep made an attack earlier. Cavendish has been very quiet so far, not contesting any of the sprints. Perhaps he's waiting for a move to go away that he can join?
AFTER 80 LAPS eighth sprint
1 Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland) 5pts
2 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 3pts
3 Marco Arriagada (Chile) 2pts
4 Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal 1pt
Leader: Kiryenka 16pts
AFTER 70 LAPS Seventh sprint
1 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 5pts
2 Vasiliy Kiriyenka (Belarus) 3pts
3 Iljo Keisse (Belgium) 2pts
4 Colby Pearce (USA) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 16pts
AFTER 60 LAPS Sixth sprint
1 Peter Schep (Netherlands) 5pts
2 Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland) 3pts
3 Vasiliy Kiriyenka (Belarus) 2pts
4 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 13pts
AFTER 50 LAPS Fifth sprint
1 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 5pts
2 Vasili Kiriyenka (Belarus) 3pts
3 Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia) 2pts
4 Joan Llaneras (Spain) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 11pts
AFTER 40 LAPS Fourth sprint
1 Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) 5pts
2 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 3pts
3 Iljo Keisse (Belgium) 2pts
4 Joan Llaneras (Spain) 1pt
Leader: Kiriyenka 6pts
20.05 Riblon, of France, who won the second sprint was stripped of his points. At the moment the leader is Kiriyenka of Belarus on six points.
AFTER 30 LAPS Third sprint
1 Milton Wynants Vasquez (Uruguay) 5pts
2 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 3pts
3 Andreas Graf (Austria) 2pts
4 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 1pt
AFTER 20 LAPS Second sprint
1 Christophe Riblon (France) DQed
2 Vasili Kiriyenka (Belarus) 3pts
3 Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong) 2pts
4 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 1pt
AFTER 10 LAPS First sprint
1 Zach Bell (Canada) 5pts
2 Vasili Kiriyenka (Belarus) 3pts
3 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 2pts
4 Chun Kai Feng (Taipei) 1pt
19.50 It's the points race. Mark Cavendish is the British hope and he'll be focussing on the sprints.
It's a 160-lap race (40 kilometres) with sprints every ten laps worth 5pts, 3pts, 2pts and 1pt to the first four over the line.
A rider lapping the field gets 20 points. The winner is the man with the most points. Simple.
Big names include: Cameron Meyer (Australia), Iljo Keisse (Belgian Six-Day star), reigning champ Joan Llaneras of Spain, Kam-Po Wong of Hong Kong, Greg Henderson of New Zealand, Peter Schep of the Netherlands and Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia.
| SPRINT |
1/4 FINALS
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) leads Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 1-0
Shuang Guo (China) leads Clara Sanchez (France) 1-0
Willy Kanis (Netherlands) leads Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 1-0
Jennie Reed (USA) leads Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 1-0
19.46 Reed gives the USA a win over Cuba. The women's sprint continues a little later.
19.45 KRUPECKAITE RELEGATED The Lithuanian has been relegated for an illegal move, so it's 1-0 to Kanis
19.42 Hold our horses. The jury is reconsidering the result of the race between Krupeckaite and Kanis. The Lithuanian crossed the line first.
19.41 Apologies for the confusion about the women's sprint there. To reiterate, it's best of three in the quarter-finals.
19.38 One minute Hoy's on the track. Next it's Victoria Pendleton and she dispatches the Dutch rider Yvonne Hijgenaar in the first of the best-of-three match. Pendleton wins it to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three race - she doesn't cruise into the final at all, as earlier stated. We were getting ahead of ourselves a bit there.
19.34 It's Hoy v Sireau in the final of the sprint, with Bourgain and Chiappa racing for bronze.
There's a very good reason why Hoy has never won a medal in the sprint competition at the World Championships before - it's because he's never raced in it.
However, fellow journalist Richard Moore of The Scotsman, says Hoy could become the first rider in World Track Championships history to win gold in four different disciplines - team sprint, Keirin, kilometre and now sprint?
19.26 Back to the men's sprint (with a recap of the first races)
| SPRINT |
SEMI-FINALS
CHRIS HOY (Great Britain) v ROBERTO CHIAPPA (Italy)
Race 1: Hoy from the front. Strong, strong, strong. That was an easy win in a semi-final clash. Chiappa tried but he looked like he was fighting a headwind. Hoy 1-0
Race 2: That was a fast race from the start. Chiappa, the veteran Italian wanted to get on with it but once Chris Hoy got going on the back straight on the final lap there was only going to be one winner. Job done and at least a silver medal in the bag. Hoy 2-0
MICKAEL BOURGAIN (France) v KEVIN SIREAU (France)
Race 1: What a sprint. Bourgain went with a lap to go but Sireau came back hard on the final bend and got past on the line. Sireau 1-0
Race 2: Any Chris Hoy fans hoping this one would go to a third and deciding race to give him a slight edge in the final were disappointed when Sireau made it 2-0. It was close all the way as they matched each other stroke for stroke. But Sireau just had enough. Sireau 2-0
| TEAM PURSUIT |
Last year
Not held. This is the first year the women?s team pursuit has been part of a World Championship programme.
RESULTS
1 Great Britain 3-22.415 (new world's best time)
2 Ukraine 3-29.744
3 Germany 3-26.960
19.21 BRITAIN WIN GOLD A superb, controlled, disciplined ride by a team that looked as if they've been doing that in competition for years. Romero, Houvenaghel and Rowsell won gold. Ukraine started out fast - probably too fast - and had almost a second on GB after the first 1,000 metres.
But there was no sense of panic and Britain reeled them in. The changes were so smooth and as they reached the 2,000 metre mark, Ukraine began to struggle. Their trio split up with one rider opening a big gap on the other two and as soon as that happened it was over.
19.18 Not that we expect anyone to feel sorry for us, but tonight we endured possibly the worst meal I've ever eaten in Western Europe. Dry tuna packed with bones and burnt on top, greasy sliced potatoes and stringy green beans. The rich smells wafting over from the VIP area where they're about to get their faces in the feedbag are really rubbing it in.
19.17 GERMANY TAKE BRONZE Germany were in control during the second half of the race and in the end it was a formality.
19.12 BRONZE MEDAL MATCH Unlike in the men's team pursuit, where they can afford to drop a rider, in the women's event the time is taken as the third rider crosses the line.
Belarus and Germany are off and running. Prince Edward is asking more people 'what they do'.
19.09 Germany v Belarus in the 3,000m team pursuit. Great Britain go up against Ukraine after that.
Prince Edward is indeed here and he met Chris Hoy after the Scotsman's win over Chiappa in the first race of the sprint semi-final.
What are the odds he said: "Hello. And what do you do?"
| SPRINT |
SEMI-FINALS
19.06
CHRIS HOY (Great Britain) v ROBERTO CHIAPPA (Italy)
Race 1: Hoy from the front. Strong, strong, strong. That was an easy win in a semi-final clash. Chiappa tried but he looked like he was fighting a headwind. Hoy 1-0
MICKAEL BOURGAIN (France) v KEVIN SIREAU (France)
Race 1: What a sprint. Bourgain went with a lap to go but Sireau came back hard on the final bend and got past on the line. Sireau 1-0
The sprinters will be back later on this evening.
18.59 Our mole in the track centre says that Cavendish's game plan is to target the sprints because he knows it'll be hard to gain a lap on the big names. However, in theory he's the fastest sprinter in the race, so he'll be hoping it stays together so he can scored big on each sprint lap.
18.58 There are three finals tonight. The women's team pursuit, the men's points race and the men's sprint.
How many medals will Britain get tonight? We're going to be bold and predict that Romero, Houvenaghel and Rowsell will win gold. Hoy will make the final and then it'll be a clash with one of the French. Bourgain looks very strong but Sireau is beatable (as Gregory Bauge proved in an early round).
And in the men's points race, well, it's a a complete guess but Cavendish fast enough.
18.55 Welcome back to the velodrome, where the track centre is full of VIPs enjoying a Champagne reception.
Rumour has it Prince Edward (one of the Queen's children) is the special guest of honour here tonight. Certainly there are a lot of police outside the entrance of the velodrome.
Tonight promises to be another fantastic one. Top of the menu is Chris Hoy's bid for a first ever Worlds medal in the men's sprint. He's up against Roberto Chiappa of Italy in the best-of-three semi-final.
Craig MacLean was the last Brit to win a medal in the sprint - silver in 2006. Before that it was the great Reg Harris, who won four golds, silver and a bronze, between 1949 and 1956. There's a bronze statue of Reg in full flight here at the velodrome.
Victoria Pendleton is also in sprint action in the quarter-finals.
Then Mark Cavendish has a crack in the points race, which will be fascinating to see. Can he medal?
And, of course, the British go for gold in the women's team pursuit.
AFTERNOON SESSION AS IT HAPPENED
Scroll down for all the action
| SPRINT |
1/8 FINALS
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) beats Clara Sanchez (France)
Shuang Guo (China) beats Lulu Zheng (China)
Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) beats Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
Jennie Reed (USA) beats Oksana Grishina (Russia)
Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) beats Christin Muche (Germany
Willy Kanis (Netherlands) w/o Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)
16.50 So, the winners in the repechages were Hijgenaar and Sanchez. That's all for this afternoon. Come back later for the finals at 7pm.
16.41 There's supposed to be some repechage races now for the riders beaten in the 1/8 finals but after the delay for Tsylinskaya's treatment it's all gone a bit quiet.
16.36 Tsylinskaya has been taken from the velodrome on a stretcher. Her World Championships are over but hopefully her injuries are not too serious. Kanis goes through as a result.
16.30 Tsylinskaya's injuries don't look too good. She's being fitted with a neck brace by the medics now. For the record, the jury decided on a rematch should she be able to ride but that looks very unlikely right now.
16.28 TSYLINSKAYA CRASHES The updisputed tie of the round was ruined early on the first bend when Tsylinskaya bumped shoulders with Kanis, lost control, suffered a burst front tyre and went down heavily.
16.25 A couple of cracking matches have seen Jennie Reed of the USA get through and Lisandra Guerra make it by the skin of her teeth.
16.20 Warming down from the women's team pursuit, Rebecca Romero said: "This is our first three-kilometre race together and we've only had a couple of weeks' practice so to go out and qualify fastest was good.
"I think in the final we can go out even better than that.
"I didn't know how I'd get on after yesterday [she won the individual pursuit gold] but I felt really good. I've only done two rides [per meeting] in World Cups before so I'm feeling really good.
"Ukraine in the final is what we expected and we'll give them a good race."
16.18 In the all-Chinese battle, Guo beats Zheng comprehensively. No suspicion of team orders, of course. Definitely not. No way.
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16.15 With only one race there's no room for error. You have to win or face the lottery of the repechage. Pendleton made no mistake. She took control early and then got out of the saddle in the back straight on the last lap to press home the advantage. Pretty much a formality as she makes the quarter-finals, which will be held tonight.
16.13 Back to the sprinting then and it's Pendleton, the reigning champ versus Long Distance Clara - or should that be Short Distance Clara.
| TEAM PURSUIT |
Last year
Not held. This is the first year the women?s team pursuit has been part of a World Championship programme. It?ll be contested by teams of three over 3,000 metres.
The British challenge
Wendy Houvenaghel, Rebecca Romero, Jo Rowsell
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1 Great Britain 3-25.725
2 Ukraine 3-26.565
3 Germany 3-28.511
4 Belarus 3-29.878
5 Russia 3-30.320
6 Netherlands 3-31.596
7 Belgium 3-35.594
16.09 IT'LL BE GREAT BRITAIN V UKRAINE Ukraine go second in 3-26.565 to set up a final against Great Britain. In the bronze match it'll be Germany v Belarus.
16.08 After a slowish first kilometre, the Ukrainians are in business. They're just behind GB's time after two kilometres.
16.06 Lyubov Shulika is in the Ukraine team and she's just done a couple of heats in the sprint competition earlier this afternoon. She got into round one where she lost to Lulu Zheng. But that's tough on the legs - two sprint efforts and now a team pursuit ride in the space of a couple of hours.
16.05 BRITAIN REACH GOLD MEDAL FINAL The Russian time was just outside what they were clocking in the World Cups but Great Britain - on their first performance in competition - are a level above them. With Ukraine the last team to ride, GB are in the gold medal final. But will it be against Ukraine or Germany?
16.03 The Russians looks smooth, their changes are neat but they're having a nightmare. Only fifth fastest after two-thirds of the race. They need something remarkable now.
16.01 Germany, Russia and Ukraine (twice) have shared the World Cup team pursuits this season and, so far, Britain are faster than Germany.
The Russians are on the track now and they look the most accomplished we've seen so far but looks can obviously be deceiving because they're only fourth fastest at the 1,000 metre stage.
16.00 Some difficult changes as the early pace began to tell on the three Germans (Becker, Joos, Sontheimer) sees them fade away, although they have the second best time so far, with Russia and Ukraine to ride.
15.58 But after 2,000 metres, the Germans are a second down on GB, whose time has stood the test of three nations since they were first to set off.
15.56 After 1,000 metres, the Germans are quicker than the Brits.
15.52 Bit of a shambles for the Dutch team. In the second kilometre, Eleonora Van Dijk split the team to bits, riding of the front. She had to ease up and let her two team-mates get back on the wheel. They were almost six seconds down on GB. It means GB are guaranteed a ride tonight for a medal. What colour though?
15.49 The draw for the 1/8 finals of the women's sprint is: Clara Sanchez v Victoria Pendleton; Shuang Guo v Lulu Zheng; Simona Krupeckaite v Yvonne Hijgenaar; Oksana Grishina v Jennie Reed; Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez v Christin Muche; Natallia Tsylinskaya v Willy Kanis.
15.45 The Belarus squad faded and finished more than four seconds down on GB.
Our mole in the track centre reports that Houvenaghel and Romero are both feeling good after Britain's riide. Rowsell, whose changes were so smooth it looks as if she's been team pursuiting for years, felt it a bit and is being looked after by the soigneurs to ensure she's ready for tonight - should GB make the final.
15.43 At half distance, Belarus are just a fraction down on GB's time at the same point.
15.37 In the words of It's A Knockout host Stuart Hall "And here come the Belgians!" They're the youngest team in this competition. Two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old. Keep 'em away from Tom Boonen! (Steady on - no need for that - Ed).
15.35 The other teams, in start order, are: Belgium, Belarus, Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
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15.34 That's a new world's best time for the women's team pursuit by GB - a new event this season. That bodes well for the chances of making the finals. Will it be the gold medal final or the bronze? We'll find out over the next 30 minutes.
15.33 With first and fourth in the individual pursuit, this is a strong team, but according to our mole in the track centre the British Cycling coaches are also impressed with Jo Rowsell, who has taken to the event like a natural in training.
15.31 Houvenaghel, Romero and Rowsell are off - 12 laps of the track, 3,000 metres to cover. Whatever happens GB will have the best time but what's crucial is that only one other team of the next six goes faster than them - meaning they'd get to race for gold tonight.
15.30 Here we go then. This is the first World Championship team pursuit for women. Great Britain's trio is up first because they've never raced before, choosing not to take part in the World Cups. There are seven teams in all.
| SPRINT |
Last year
Gold Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
Silver Shuang Guo (China)
Bronze Anna Meares (Australia)
Other Brits Anna Blyth (10th in qualifying)
The British challenge
Victoria Pendleton
Anna Blyth
Jessica Varnish
SPRINT FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) beats Anastasiya Chulkova (Russia)
Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) beats Virginie Cueff (France)
Oksana Grishina (Russia) beats Jinjie Gong (China)
Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) beats Miriam Welte (Germany)
Willy Kanis (Netherlands) beats Elisa Frisoni (Italy)
Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) beats Sandie Clair (France)
Christian Muche (Germany) beats Swetlana Grankowskaya (Russia)
Jennie Reed (USA) beats Kaarle McCulloch (Australia)
Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) beats Dana Gloss (Germany)
Lulu Zheng (China) beats Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
Clara Sanchez (France) beats Anna Blyth (Great Britain)
Shuang Guo (China) beats Diana Maria Garcia Orrego (Colombia)
15.27 Guo gets through to wrap up the first round of the sprint. The 1/8 finals will be coming up a little later in this afternoon's session, plus the repechages.
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15.24 Tough match for Anna Blyth, up against the French rider Clara Sanchez. Sanchez took the initiative, giving Blyth a bit of a chase. Blyth closed the gap round the final bend and moved out of the slipstream to try to come past but she didn't have quite enough.
15.19 Reed is through and so is Hijgenaar. There are three matches to go. Lulu Zheng v Lyubov Shulika, Clara Sanchez v Anna Blyth and the Shuang Guo v Diana Maria Garcia Orrego, which has been delayed because of a technical hitch of some kind.
15.11 Fair play to Sandie Clair. On paper Natallia Tsylinskaya was the big, big favourite, so Clair attacked straight away and opened a lead. However, the Belarus rider reeled her in and the French girl was cooked with half a lap to go.
15.04 A minor shock as the Chinese rider who qualified fourth fastest, Jinjie Gong, goes out at the hands of Grishina.
14.58 Anna Blyth goes in the last race, against France's Clara Sanchez.
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14.56 Easy peasy for Victoria. She made the Russia girl look like she was riding a heavy shopping bike with the basket loaded down with groceries (no disrespect), easing clear and having the job done as she came out of the final bend.
14.53 Having set the best time in qualifying, it's the briefest of breaks for Victoria Pendleton. She's in the first race, against Anastasiya Chulkova of Russia in the first of 12 matches.
Winner takes all. No repechage second chances for the losers. Win or bust, one race only. Game on.
SPRINT QUALIFYING BEST TIMES SO FAR
1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 10.904sec
2 Shuang Guo (China) 11.002sec
3 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 11.093sec
4 Jinjie Gong (China) 11.152sec
5 Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 11.169sec
6 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 11.172sec
7 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 11.221sec
8 Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia) 11.280sec
9 Jennie Reed (USA) 11.283.sec
10 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 11.298sec
11 Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) 11.317sec
12 Clara Sanchez (France) 11.346sec
13 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 11.354sec
14 Lulu Zheng (China) 11.416sec
= Diana Gloss (Germany) 11.416sec
16 Kaarle McCulloch (Australia) 11.417sec
17 Christin Muche (Germany) 11.510sec
18 Sandie Clair (France) 11.542sec
19 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 11.545sec
20 Miriam Welte (Germany) 11.550sec
21 Oksana Grishina (Russia) 11.576sec
22 Virginie Cueff (France) 11.599sec
23 Diana Maria Garcia Orrego (Spain) 11.605sec
24 Anastasiya Chulkova (Russia) 11.738sec
25 Jessica Varnish (Great Britain) 11.756sec
= Valentina Alessio (Italy) 11.756sec
27 Sakie Tsukuda (Japan) 12.268
28 Jutatip Maneephan (Thailand) 12.532sec
BRITISH RIDERcolour>
14.44 NEW BEST TIME Victoria Pendleton blasts it. The only rider under 11 seconds and a new British record for 200 metres. She'll be top seed for the knock-out. Jessica Varnish misses out by just one place and just 0.018 of a second.
14.42 NEW BEST TIME Shuang Guo (China) with a very quick time, takes over at the top with just Pendleton to go.
14.38 NEW BEST TIME Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) tops the leaderboard with just three riders still to go.
14.35 Willy Kanis managed second fastest, Tsylinskaya third fastest but China's Gong still stands on top. With the big names left to go it looks unlikely Jessica Varnish is going to go through.
14.29 Three-time former world sprint champion Grankowskaja has just gone second fastest but Jinjie Gong's time still stands.
After yesterday's sweltering heat, it's cooler in the velodrome today but it smells of embrocation, which tainted the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference goats cheese and pepper sandwich that served as CW's executive lunch.
BRITISH RIDERcolour>
14.26 Anna Blyth gets the third fastest time so far, which is very decent indeed. 11.354 seconds and a guaranteed place in round one.
14.23 That's the halfway mark - 14 riders to go, including Anna Blyth and Victoria Pendleton.
The Chinese hold the two fastest positions after the other team sprint silver medallist, Lulu Zheng, took second place.
14.20 The Thai rider Maneephan is the second rider to go slower than Britain's Jessica Varnish. She needs another two riders to go slower to get a ride in the first round, which would be a great experience in her first World Championships.
14.18 NEW BEST TIME Chinese rider Jinjie Gong, who won a silver in the women's team pursuit behind Reade and Pendleton, goes quicker over the 200 metres than McCulloch.
14.16 NEW BEST TIME Kaarle McCulloch of Australia beats Sandie Clair's time to top the leaderboard.
14.13 That's one, then. The Japanese rider, Sakie Tsukuda is slower than Varnish.
14.11 To complicate matters, Varnish and Alessio are tied on the same time, which could cause the UCI's judges a pickle if they end up being on the cut line.
14.09 The two experienced French riders beat Varnish's time. Varnish, at the age of 17, is actually the youngest woman in this World Championships. There are 28 riders in this sprint competition and 24 go through to the first round. So, this qualification round is simply to eliminate four riders. British fans will be anxious for four riders to record a slower time than Varnish so she gets another ride.
BRITISH RIDERcolour>
14.05 Welcome back. Hope you had a nicer lunch than us - supermarket sandwiches. Again.
Jessica Varnish is first up in the sprint and gets a great cheer to a time of 11.756 seconds.
11.50 MEN'S SPRINT SEMI FINAL LINE-UP
Chris Hoy (Great Britain) v Roberto Chiappa (Italy)
Mickael Bourgain (France) v Kevin Sireau (France)
Hoy has a great shout of reaching the final, especially after being Bos.
11.45 What's on the menu today then?
In the afternoon Jessica Varnish is first off in the women's sprint qualifying. Anna Blyth is also in the competition and Victoria Pendleton rounds things off.
Also in the afternoon Great Britain's women's team pursuit quartet make their debut. Because they've never raced before, Great Britain are first up in the qualifying, with Wendy Houvenaghel, Rebecca Romero and Jo Rowsell.
This evening come the women's team pursuit finals, the men's points race, featuring Mark Cavendish.
And then it's sprinting all the way, with the women's sprint reaching the quarter final stage and the conclusion of the men's sprint.
11.30 Hello again, how nice to see you. The racing doesn't start until 2pm today but when it does it promises to be another superb day.
Yesterday was incredible. We dared to suggest to the BC coaching team that three golds was a possibility and it happened. As my colleague Keith Bingham said today: "Not so long ago a bronze medal in one event was seen as a big success."
My first track worlds was in Berlin in 1999, when the team sprinters (or Olympic sprinters as they were called then) won silver.
The next year, in Manchester, Paul Manning was part of the team pursuit team that won silver. It is astonishing to think he's been a medallist in the event at every World Championship since, and now he's a world record holder.
But if you had to pick a moment of the night yesterday, it was when Chris Hoy lunged with all his might to beat Theo Bos in the sprint quarter-finals. No one will fancy facing him after seeing that and a first worlds medal in the sprint beckons.
2008 TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAILY REPORTS
Sunday, day five>>
Saturday, day four>>
Friday, day three>>
Thursday, day two>>
Wednesday, day one>>
RELATED LINKS
Women's Keirin: Reed denies Pendleton the perfect finish
Who are Brit's golden nine?
Hoy wins the Keirin
Eighth gold for Britain in the Madison
Gold for Pendleton in the sprint
Chris Hoy wins sprint gold
Pursuit women take fifth British gold medal
Jo Rowsell's gold: the toast of Sutton Cycling Club
Belarussian wins men's points race
Britain going for more gold on Friday
Comment: How many more gold for GB?
Hat-trick of golds for Britain
Britain break team pursuit world record
GB into women's team pursuit final
Gold for Romero in individual pursuit
Reade and Pendleton cruise into team sprint final
Track World Champs: results
Romero breaks British pursuit record
It's Britain vs Denmark in team pursuit final
Britain aiming for team pursuit world record
Britain take silver in team sprint
Crowd step in as French anthem stalls
Hayles denies cheating after failing blood test
Wiggins: "I'm pleased I got the job done"
Wiggins wins pursuit gold
Brailsford defends Hayles after failed blood test
Hayles fails pre-race blood test at Track Worlds
Cycling Weekly's 2008 Track World Championships preview
PHOTO GALLERIES
CW's online gallery section>>
Day three in pictures
Day two in pictures
Day one in pictures
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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.
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