Britain claims first gold

The Great Britain track team, so dominant in last year's World Championships and at the Beijing Olympic Games, finally claimed its first gold medal after seven events at the UCI Track World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland, on Thursday.

The women's team pursuit squad of Wendy Houvenaghel, Lizzy Armistead and Joanna Roswell soundly defeated their opponents from New Zealand in the finals, clocking in a 3:22.72 for the three kilometre distance.

The Kiwi team, including individual pursuit gold medalist Alison Shanks, lagged by 1.27 seconds to claim that country's second medal of the championships.

Australia racked up the bronze to add to its tally. That country scored gold in the men's points race with Cameron Meyer yesterday, silver in the men's individual pursuit with Jack Bobridge and gold in the women's team sprint earlier Wednesday.