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Hoy wins an unexpected gold medal in the sprint

Britain's Chris Hoy celebrates victory in the men's sprint competition at the World Track Cycling Championships at the Manchester Velodrome in Manchester, England, on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Chris Hoy was hoping for a gold medal at the Track Cycling World Championships. He just wasn't expecting it to arrive so soon.

Hoy unexpectedly won the men's sprint on Friday, beating defending champion Theo Bos and World Cup champion Kevin Sireau along the way. The victory was Britain's sixth gold medal of the championships.

"The sprint is the blue ribbon event and one I never thought possible to win and tonight it's a dream come true. With the motivation and morale I have now, anything is possible," Hoy said.

Looking for double gold for Britain will be Victoria Pendleton, who will race in the semi-finals of the women's sprint having come tantalizingly close to the 15-year-old sprint world record time during qualifying.

She will compete for the medals against Jennie Reed of the US, Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania and Guo Shuang of China.

Bradley Wiggins already has two golds and he'll be after a third competing with Mark Cavendish in the men's madison. They will face stiff competition, however, including last year's champions Bruno Risi and Franc Marvel of Switzerland.

On Friday, the British women's pursuit team of Rebecca Roomer, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell beat the world record twice to defeat Ukraine in an event that is new to the track cycling program this year. Germany beat Belarus for the bronze.

"What a day yesterday, then going through it all again today and finishing off so elated," Romero said after her second gold-medal ride in two days. "It was brilliant, the three did excellently with minimal preparation to go out there and put a stamp on the team pursuit."

Scottish rider Hoy edged Sireau of France in two races, on each occasion only by millimeters. Mickael Bourgain of France took the bronze, defeating Roberto Chiappa of Italy.

At the Athens Olympics, Hoy won the 1km time trial, but it was dropped from Beijing's program for BMX, so Hoy turned to the sprint and keirin.

Belarus won a second gold medal in the points race, contested over 160 laps with sprints every 10. Vasili Kiryienka held off a late charge from Christophe Riblon of France, who tried valiantly to lap the field for a 20-point bonus but left it too late.

Kiryienka finished on 24 points and Riblon on 23. Riblon had been stripped of five points for straying onto the strip at the bottom of the track.

"I was only over by about 3cm and there was no one following me," Riblon said.

The 2006 world champion, Peter Schep of the Netherlands, finished third on 19 points.

The result was much-needed good news for the Belarusian team, which was shocked earlier in the day by a serious crash for eight-time world champion Natallia Tsylinskaya in the heats of the women's sprint.

Tsylinskaya crashed with Willy Kanis of the Netherlands and was taken away on a stretcher with concussion and a shoulder injury.

With 10 of the 18 medals decided, Britain has six golds and a good chance of improving on the unprecedented seven titles it took last year.
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