Hoy's absence keenly felt as sprint team miss out on gold

Published on Wednesday 25 March 2009 23:08

THE absence of Sir Chris Hoy was sorely felt by Great Britain at the Track Cycling World Championships last night as the sprint team missed out on a first gold medal since 2005.

France successfully defended their crown in Pruszkow, Poland, as the British team, missing the injured four-time Olympic champion Hoy, of

Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton took silver in 43.869secs – 0.359 behind the winners. It was a fourth successive men's team sprint silver for Britain.

Wendy Houvenaghel also suffered heartache in her bid for Britain's first gold medal of the championships.

Houvenaghel, the fastest qualifier, slowed significantly in the latter part of the women's individual pursuit to finish second to New Zealand's Alison Shanks, who won gold in three minutes 29.807 seconds.

The 34-year-old Beijing silver medallist, who lives in Cornwall, was bidding to succeed Olympic champion Rebecca Romero as the world's best.

Victoria Pendleton and Chris Newton earlier won bronze medals in the women's 500 metres time-trial and the men's points race, respectively. But Joanna Rowsell could not add a third bronze, finishing fourth in the women's individual pursuit as Lithuania's Vilija Sereikaite clinched third place.

Pendleton, Britain's only defending individual champion, opened her campaign with an unexpected time-trial bronze.

In the first of her four events – she also rides the team sprint with Shanaze Reade, the sprint and the keirin – Olympic sprint champion Pendleton clocked a season's best of 34.102secs, with Simona Krupeckaite winning gold in a world record 33.296secs.

Australia's Anna Meares set a time of 33.796secs to hold first place for much of the event before seeing her world record smashed by the Lithuanian, while Britain's Anna Blyth was 14th in 35.443secs.

Pendleton was thrilled with her podium place. "I'm over the moon," said the 28-year-old from Stotfold, Bedfordshire. "I'm really pleased with that result – I've never won a medal in this event before – and it's promising for the next couple of days."

Newton won Britain's second bronze of the evening, finishing third in the men's points race.

The 34-year-old, who won Olympic bronze in Beijing, was in contention throughout the 160-lap (40 kilometres) event, which features sprints and points awarded every ten laps. But Australia's Cameron Meyer edged ahead in the later sprints to clinch gold, with Denmark's Daniel Kreutzfeld taking silver.

Meanwhile, Great Britain have opted not to enter the men's individual pursuit at the championships in Poland. Britain have won the 4,000 metre event on seven occasions since 1993, with Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman each triumphing twice and Bradley Wiggins winning three titles.

However, the 2009 event takes place today without Britain offering a challenge to American favourite Taylor Phinney. Olympic champion Wiggins – the winner in 2003, 2007 and 2008 – is concentrating on road racing, while Steven Burke, the Beijing bronze medallist, is in team pursuit action tomorrow and is also set to ride the men's omnium on Sunday.

Fresh from a phenomenal victory in the Milan-San Remo one-day classic on Saturday – his 34th professional victory – Mark Cavendish, the 23-year-old from the Isle of Man, will line up in the men's scratch today despite insisting his velodrome days were behind him after he failed to win a medal in Beijing.

Cavendish is the defending champion in the men's Madison, having won gold alongside Wiggins in 2008, and is also set to compete in that event with fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh on Saturday.