Meares makes it a triple on night three

Meares' mighty double

Anna Meares proved her utter dominance of the 500m time trial with victory in the event after a superb performance in the women's sprint last night. The reigning world champion was last out of the blocks in the final, chasing the impressive time of French rider Sandie Clair, who clocked a 33.667.

There were murmurings before the race that Meares could go under the magical 33-second barrier, given her form thus far in the opening round of the UCI Track World Cup. A busy schedule that included the sprint last night in addition to the 500m TT and the keirin on the final evening of competition.

After wrapping up the time trial title, Meares moved onto the keirin where she was confident in qualifying. The final for gold saw her up against China's Jinjie Gong, classy French riders Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez, Kristina Vogel and countrywoman Kaarle McCulloch.

And she was typically composed in the final, holding first wheel behind the derny and maintaining her position after it had left the track. Despite a spirited showing from Sanchez and McCulloch, Meares held on to record her third win of the meet and finish it as the undoubted star of the show.

Australia lowers the mark

In the men's team pursuit, the Australian quartet of Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer, Leigh Howard and Michael Hepburn proved its world champion status with a commanding performance in the gold medal final.

Pitted against a surprise packet in the Russian team - now managed by former Danish head coach Heiko Salzwedel - Bobridge rode the opening lap as the Australians passed the one-kilometre mark in a time of 1.03.478 an maintained an early lead that they never relinquished.

Despite Howard dropping out of the race shortly after the three-kilometre mark Bobridge, Meyer, Howard and Hepburn stopped the clock after four kilometres at 3.56.913, the fourth fastest time ridden by an Australian team.

With three laps remaining Hepburn slightly dropped the wheel of Bobridge which would have spelt disaster for the Australians - his teammates eased him back into the formation and he paid tribute to their work afterwards.

"I swung up with a few laps to go and I probably wasn't feeling too good but I got back onto the wheel... these boys rode fantastic tonight and it was a good team effort so we were really happy with the time," said Hepburn.

In the final for bronze, Great Britain lost Ed Clancy halfway through its ride but managed to hold the effort together and finish on the podium below Australia and Russia with a time of 4.01.456.

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