Great Britain have got off to the best possible start on the first day of finals at the London round of the UCI Track World Cup.
Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish won gold with a world record breaking ride in the final of the women’s team sprint.
Pendleton’s commanding final leg saw her dominate her arch rival, Anna Meares, to bring Great Britain home in a time of 32.754 seconds.
And the women’s team pursuit squad of Joanna Rowsell, Dani King, and Laura Trott smashed the world record in the women’s team pursuit, destroying their Canadian opponents with a time of 3 minutes 18.148 seconds, on their way to a gold medal.
Trott told British Cycling: “We knew we had it in us. It’s just about riding it right. It drives me on having the crowd behind us, it’s amazing. The last kilometre was so hard but to have the crowd behind you is amazing. I was suffering so much but they just spur you on.”
Rowsell added: “It’s great to win and to set the world record as well. We knew it was possible, as in training we were riding well above world record pace.”
The men’s team sprint line up of Ross Edgar, Jason Kenny, and Sir Chris Hoy, won the bronze medal, beating Australia in the ‘B’ final.
The gold medal went to the German team, who saw off the challenge of a French line-up led by Gregory Bauge.
Hoy told the BBC Great Britain’s sprint team was within “striking distance” of their rivals, describing their advantage as a bike length.
All of the British athletes paid tribute to the support from fans in a packed velodrome.
The meeting, which has doubled as the Olympic test event, has shown that the home athletes will enjoy significant support in August.
On Saturday, Hoy, Pendleton, and Kenny will return to action in the individual sprint competitions, while Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, and Steven Burke, will face Australia in the final of the men’s team pursuit on Sunday.
