Meares sets new 500m time trial world record

Australia dominated affairs on the second day of the UCI Track World Cup in Mexico, claiming no fewer than four gold medals, headlined by a world record effort by Anna Meares in the Women’s 500 metres time trial.

Meares became the first women in history to dip under the 33-second barrier when she clocked an impressive 32.836, which easily saw off the challenge of Miriam Welte (Germany) and Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong). “It’s a huge milestone,” Meares said. “Not just for me, but for the sport. I knew that it was going to be possible on this track because of the altitude, especially considering how close I got to that time at the Worlds in Melbourne in 2012.”

Her fellow countrywoman Rebecca Wiasak emerged victorious in a keenly-contested women’s pursuit final against British youngster Elinor Barker. Barker had posted the quickest time in qualifying, but Wiasak proved too quick in the final, clocking 3:28.884 to Barker’s 3:31.070. In the bronze medal race, Ireland’s Caroline Ryan gave further notice of her progress by pipping Anna Solovey (Ukraine) to bronze.

“With Anna Meares winning gold immediately before my event was pretty special. I got off the rollers and the national anthem was playing and it certainly fired me up,” Wiasak said. “At the half way mark I knew I was in front of [Barker] slightly but I knew she would be strong right to the end and I just had to fight every single lap.”

The final of the men’s sprint saw another British-Australian battle, and once again, the honours went Down Under as Matthew Glaetzer won his first World Cup gold medal by beating Olympic champion Jason Kenny. Glaetzer won the match 2-0, but admitted afterwards that his victory was a surprise. “To win another gold medal for Australia is just fantastic and against the Olympic champion is just insane,” he said.

Australia’s fourth gold medal of the day came in the men’s omnium, where Luke Davison won out with a hugely consistent performance. Second in the flying lap and fourth in the individual pursuit, Davison held off Artyom Zakharov (Kazakhstan) for the win.

“It’s definitely one of my highlights in my track career,” Davison said. “I’ve only been back focusing on the track for a year and targeting the omnium for six months so I’m pretty pleased with my results and improvement.”

Elsewhere, Kristina Vogel (Germany) won the women’s keirin from Sze Wai Lee (Hong Kong) and Rebecca James (Great Britain), Owain Doull (Great Britain) claimed the men’s scratch race, while Sarah Hammer (USA) and Laura Trott (Great Britain) exchanged early blows in the women’s omnium, which concludes on Saturday.

Results

Results

Women's 500m Time Trial

Results

Results

Results

Results