Meares and Hoy lay down markers in Manchester

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Day two of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester saw one world champion assert his superiority while another saw her crown slip.

Chris Hoy responded to the disappointment of only winning a bronze medal in Friday's sprint with a dominant victory in an incident-packed keirin, while his Sky Track Cycling teammate, Victoria Pendleton, suffered defeat to her long-standing rival, Anna Meares of Australia, in the semi-final of the women's sprint.

Meares was pushed to three rides by Shuang Guo of China in the final, with the third leg a tense affair, though the Australian seized the initiative on the penultimate lap and then began to press for home approaching the bell lap.

And although Guo responded on the back straight, Meares held her off to claim gold and set up what should be a thrilling contest at the world championships in Holland next month, where Pendleton will be aiming for her fifth sprint title in a row.

While Pendleton had to settle for bronze in Manchester, she had the consolation of being awarded the all-white jersey of overall World Cup winner.

"Things have gone so well," said Meares after being presented with her second gold medal of the Manchester World Cup, after Friday's team sprint. "In qualification today I was only one one-thousandths of a second off going under 11 seconds, and it was the second fastest time of my entire career.

"I put together some really good racing today," continued Meares. "I made a couple of mistakes as well but I was lucky enough to come away with the win."

Hoy's win in the men's keirin was spectacular both for the manner of his victory, with the 34-year-old quadruple Olympic gold medallist sitting back and then launching a surge that destroyed his five opponents, and for the chaos that ensued behind.

As Hoy blasted up the home straight, Aziz Awang, the diminutive Malaysian, tried to squeeze through a tiny gap on the final bend, in the process colliding with and bringing down two riders.

In true domino fashion these three riders brought down the remaining two, meaning that Hoy was the only man left on his bike, even if he only realised that as he surveyed the wreckage on his victory lap.

As Hoy celebrated, the stricken riders sprinted in ungainly style for the line, pushing their bikes, to claim the minor placings. Jason Niblett (Jayco-AIS) was first to do so, with Awang somehow managing to remount and ride across the line to claim third, and confirm his overall World Cup win, before being carried out of the arena on a stretcher. The replays showed an enormous splinter entering his calf and coming out the other end.

"I was completely unaware of the crash," said Hoy. "It was only on my victory lap, when I was showboating, and the officials were shouting at me to stay up the track, that I could see the bodies. The noise of the crowd meant that I didn't hear it, but it was a nasty one."

Hoy had ridden the final using the same tactic he used in the two preceding heats - coming from the back. Previously, his almost flawless record in the keirin owed largely to his ability to lead from start to finish, simply riding his opponents off his back wheel. "If you're stuck back in fifth or sixth it's not a disaster as long as you commit when you go," Hoy explained.

"The one word I use in my head is commit. When I go I have to commit, and give truly 100 percent. I know if I commit and put the foot down I'll get round the others, and it's good to have the flexibility of having different ways of riding."

Day two of the men's omnium saw New Zealand's Shane Archbold pick up where he'd left off on Friday, winning the individual pursuit to consolidate his lead. After that it was all about consistency - and avoiding crashes. Fifth in the scratch race and third in the kilometre time trial meant he was a convincing winner, placing first in three of the six events, ahead of Ho-Sung Cho of Korea and Elia Viviani of Italy.

It means that Archbold has won three out of the four omniums he has ridden, having only taken up the event in November. He argued that his sequence was not perfect, with room for improvement in the kilo. "But perfect is winning, I guess," he said. "It's another World Cup victory [his second]. It's not the world championships, but it's another step forward for me.

"Originally I didn't target the omnium because there are so many other athletes in New Zealand who are better suited to it, but since I've had two World Cup wins some say it's made for me. It's all about consistency. There are six opportunities for it to go wrong."

In the fourth event to be decided on day two of the World Cup Russia's Anastasiya Chulkova won the women's scratch race from Jennie Reed (USA), the 2008 world keirin champion, and Amy Cure (Australia). Chulkova was away for most of the race before being pulled back along with her breakaway companions, yet she still had enough strength to come through and take the gold by a convincing margin.

Women's Omnium - Qualifying

Women's Sprint Qualifying

Men's Keirin Qualifying

Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals

Women's Omnium Flying Lap

Women's Sprint - B Quarter-finals

Women's Sprint - B Semi-finals

Women's Sprint - Quarter-finals

Men's Keirin - First Round Repechage

Women's Scratch Race - Heat 1

Women's Sprint - B Finals

Women's Sprint - Race for 5th-8th place

Women's Scratch Race - Heat 2

Men's Omnium - Individual Pursuit

Women's Omnium - Points Race

Women's Sprint - Semi-finals

Men's Keirin - Second Round

Women's Scratch Race - Final

Men's Omnium - Scratch Race

Women's Omnium - Elimination Race

Men's Keirin -Final

Men's Omnium - Time Trial

Men's Omnium - Final Standings

Women's Sprint - Final

Women's Omnium - Standings after day 1