Australia pip Britain to take team pursuit gold

GB miss out on gold in team pursuit

Track Cycling World Championships 2010
Venue: Ballerup Super Arena, Ballerup, Denmark Dates: 24-28 March
Coverage: Live on BBC Two, red button and BBC Sport website

By Chris Bevan
BBC Sport in Copenhagen

Great Britain had to settle for a silver medal in the team pursuit at the track cycling world championships in Copenhagen as Australia took the gold.

Britain's Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant were fastest in qualifying in the four-man 16-lap race.

But Australia brought world points champion Cameron Meyer into their team and clocked three minutes 55.654 seconds to triumph by 0.152 seconds.

Earlier, Britain's Victoria Pendleton eased into the sprint semi-finals.

But the day again belonged to the Australians, who clinched their fifth gold medal of the week.

It's still a fair while to the 2012 Olympics and to be knocking out times like this is pretty good

Ben Swift

Britain's Swift told BBC Sport: "I don't think we were unlucky, we just raced behind a fantastic team in the Aussies.

"For us not to win the worlds in a 3:55 time is saying something about the competition.

"It's still a fair while to the 2012 Olympics which is our ultimate goal, and to be knocking out times like this is pretty good.

"Everybody gave it their all. Even if we were a little bit disappointed not to get the rainbow jersey we still have to be happy with what we have done out there."

Pendleton started confidently in her bid for a fourth-straight world sprint crown, her fifth in that event in total.

She coasted through the first two rounds before brushing aside Russia's Victoria Baranova with a 2-0 win in their best-of-three-race quarter-final.

The 29-year-old is back in action for the semi-finals on Saturday, along with Shuang Guo of China, Anna Meares of Australia and Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite.

Britain's other two entrants in the sprint; Becky Savage and Jess Varnish, bowed out in the first round.

Savage, 18, lost to France's Clara Sanchez, while Varnish, 19, was comfortably beaten by Pendleton - who she partnered to finish fourth in the team sprint on Thursday.

CHRIS BEVAN'S BLOG

Even if Britain's young quartet had struck gold, there are other reasons why their performance was so significant

Anna Blyth, 21, finished 20th in the women's 10km scratch race, while David Daniell, competing in his first world championships, finished seventh in the 1km time trial in a time of 1:02.033.

Dutch rider Teun Mulder clocked 1:00.341 for gold ahead of French duo Michael D'Almeida and Francois Pervis.

Sir Chris Hoy, who won gold in the keirin on Thursday, also returns to the track on Saturday when he begins his bid for an 11th world title in the men's sprint, an event he won in 2008.

The women's omnium, a multi-discipline event that has been introduced to the Olympic programme for 2012, will take place over the course of the day, with Lizzie Armitstead the British representative in Copenhagen.

Armitstead will compete in a 200m sprint, 5km scratch race, 2km individual pursuit, 10km points race and a 1km time-trial, with each position of the 17 riders from every event added together and the lowest total winning.

However the men's and women's omnium will follow a different format at the 2012 Olympics.

The event will be held over the duration of the track programme rather than one day, use different distances and have an extra discipline; an elimination race.

Britain has no rider in Saturday's madison, as it is one of the events dropped from the Olympics to make room for the omnium.