Cycling: Australia's awesome foursome smash pursuit record and Britons

STUTTGART - Australia smashed their world record to retain the teams pursuit title at the world track championships yesterday.

Graeme Brown, Luke Roberts, Brett Lancaster and Peter Dawson clocked 3m 57.185s for the 4000m, shattering their old world record of 3m 59.383s and thrashing Britain by 3.444s in the final.

France won their bronze medal race against Russia, but in a distant 4m 04.119s.

"Our goal today was to smash the world record and smash the Poms off the track, and we did both," said Dawson, who was in the team who won last year's title and set the record on the way to gold at the Commonwealth Games.

It was Australia's first gold of the championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Jobie Dajka came second in the sprint and Rochelle Gilmore likewise in the 10km scratch race to take the silver tally to seven.

The Australian pursuiters powered through the race and led the Britons by 0.410 of a second after the first kilometre, which they stretched to 1.211s as they went through 2000m in 2m 01.638s.

They clocked 57.636s, 57.683s and 57.959s for each of the last three kilometres.

Dajka, 21, won his second silver for the week as Frenchman Laurent Gane once again beat him for gold after taking the keirin title off the Australian last Thursday.

Gilmore lost out to Russian dual gold medallist Olga Slusareva in a mass sprint to the finish of the 10km.

Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel won her third consecutive women's individual 3km pursuit title, clocking 3m 32.657s in a thrilling final against Australian Katie Mactier, who clocked 3m 33.784s.

Mactier was in the lead until the final lap but Van Moorsel snatched the gold with a dash to the line.

It was the Sydney Olympic champion's fourth pursuit world title.

New Zealander Sarah Ulmer had hopes of taking the bronze, but she lost the ride-off by 1.723s to Russia's Slusareva, who recorded 3m 31.938s.

New Zealand track coach Max Vertongen said Ulmer "gave it 110 per cent".

"She went out a little bit fast and it almost came off, but in the final 2 1/2 laps the Russian girl started to move away from her."

Vertongen said Ulmer was disappointed but not downhearted.

"There are five top women individual pursuiters and she can go to the Olympics in pretty good heart knowing exactly where she stands and what she has to do to move to that other level."

Slusareva's time would have won her the gold, but she had only qualified third-fastest in the first round and so did not qualify for the final.

Austrian Franz Stocher won the men's 40km points title with 77 points.

New Zealander Greg Henderson was 11th on 43 points.

- AGENCIES