Becky James overcame Germany’s Kristina Vogel in an enthralling individual sprint final to win her first World Championship title.

Great Britain’s women’s sprint squad arrived in Minsk, Belarus, without the recently-retired Victoria Pendleton but James showed the future is bright by coming from 1-0 down to beat Vogel 2-1 in the three-race final.

“It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe this has just happened to me,” said James. “I’m world champion and I can’t believe it.

“I didn’t know if I’d run the first run quite right. We went over the tactics right after. I really wanted to win this so I sat down, kept myself calm and thought about what I wanted to do in the next round, did it, and did it again in the third.”

The 21-year-old, who has already won team sprint and 500m time trial bronze, added: “I didn’t think I’d get a single medal – I was hoping to get top eight in everything. I can’t believe I got a rainbow jersey.”

There was disappointment for Great Britain in the men’s competition, with Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes and Matthew Crampton all bowing out.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Laura Trott lies third in the omnium at the halfway stage of the six-discipline event, while Jon Dibben ended the men’s event sixth overall on his World Championship debut. Dani King finished eighth in the women’s 25km points race.