WORLD CUP DAY TWO - QUALIFYING SESSION

Track World Cup logo 2008

Britain are on course to win more medals at the World Cup in Manchester after a solid qualifying session.

The team pursuit quartet of Clancy, Thomas, Hayles and Burke broke four minutes and will race for gold against Denmark.

Team sprinter duo Anna Blyth and Jess Varnish were superb as they tackled the event on the big stage for the first time and will race the German duo in the final.

And either Jason Kenny or Matt Crampton will race for gold in the men's sprint after they were drawn to face each other in tonight's semi-final.

World Cup points race champion Chris Newton cruised through by winning his heat.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
SPRINT

Qualifying round

Jason Kenny (Sky+HD) qualified fastest ahead of David Daniell (Great Britain), who won the kilometre time trial last night. Shane Perkins of Australia and Lukasz Kwiatkowski were third and fourth fastest in the 200-metre flying start event. The other two British riders, Matt Crampton (GB) and Craig Maclean (Plowman Craven) qualified fifth and sixth.

1/8 finals

Three of the British riders progressed to the quarter-finals. Jason Kenny beat Frenchman Quentin Lafargue, David Daniell beat Sebastian Doehrer and Matt Crampton got past China's Li Wen Hao. Craig Maclean of Plowman Craven lost out to Mathias Stumpf of Germany.

Quarter-finals

Jason Kenny beat Francois Pervis of France, riding for Cofidis, in two straight rides. The first was quite close but the second Kenny led from the front and Pervis had no answer to his speed. The Frenchman made a point of saluting Kenny, which in turn brought applause from the crowd.

Matt Crampton beat the Czech Republic's Adam Ptacnik, but David Daniell was edged out 2-0 by Michael D'Almeida, the Frenchman riding for US Creteil.

Kenny goes from the front and holds off Francois Pervis in their quarter-final match

SATURDAY NIGHT'S ACTION
Semi-finals
Matt Crampton (Great Britain) v Jason Kenny (Sky+HD)

Shane Perkins (Australia) v Michael D'Almeida (US Creteil)

A British finalist is guranteed after Crampton and Kenny were drawn together in the last four as a result of their times in the quarter-finals.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
TEAM SPRINT

Qualifying round

The Great Britain pair of Anna Blyth and Jess Varnish will race Germany's Christin Muche and Miriam Welte in the gold medal race after they qualified second-fastest. The Germans set a time of 34.452 seconds, which was slightly faster than Blyth and Varnish, who did 34.582. Russia and Poland will race for the bronze medal.

SATURDAY NIGHT'S ACTION
Gold medal final

Germany (Christin Muche, Miriam Welte) v Great Britain (Anna Blyth, Jessica Varnish)

Bronze medal final

Russia v Poland

Swipe to scroll horizontally
TEAM PURSUIT

Qualifying round

Two of Great Britain's world championship team, Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas, showed off their rainbow bands when they were joined by Rob Hayles and Steven Burke, who wore regular GB kit.

Last of the 13 teams to race, they set the fastest time at every split and were the only team under four minutes, with a time of 3-59.541.

Denmark were their nearest challengers, and so the two teams will meet in the final tonight.

The Russian trade team, Lokomotiv, face the Netherlands in the bronze medal race. Team 100% Me's quartet of Mark Christian, Andrew Fenn, Luke Rowe and Erick Rowsell, were 11th in a time of 4-13.478.

SATURDAY NIGHT'S ACTION
Gold medal final
Great Britain
v Denmark

Bronze medal final

Lokomotiv v Netherlands

Great Britain prove beyond a shadow of a doubt they are the finest team pursuiting nation in the world. Two of the world champion quartet are joined by Rob Hayles and Steven Burke to break the four-minute barrier in qualifying

Swipe to scroll horizontally
POINTS RACE

Qualifying heat 1 - 15km
1 Chris Newton (Great Britain) 10pts

2 Leonid Krasnov (Lokomotiv) 8pts

3 Eloy Teruel (Spain) 7pts

Qualifying heat 2 - 15km

1 Elia Viviani (Italy) 66pts

2 King Wai Cheung (Hong Kong) 45pts

3 Glenn O'Shea (Toshiba) 41pts

9 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven) 23pts

Swipe to scroll horizontally
SCRATCH RACE

Great Britain's Alexandra Greenfield and Lucy Martin, together with Team 100% Me's Lizzie Armitstead and Katie Colclough all qualified for tonight's final.

MANCHESTER TRACK WORLD CUP 2008 LINKS

NEWS/REPORTS

World Cup day one summary

How to spot the British riders at Manchester

British under-23 team gets ready for Manchester world cup

Sky+HD track team officially unveiled

Clancy for individual pursuit at Manchester World Cup

Chris Hoy scholarship programme launched

Kenny ready for race action in Manchester

British Cycling celebrate success at gala dinner

EVENT GUIDE

Manchester World Cup preview: Who's riding for Britain ? and in which event?

CW's Dummies' Guide to track racing ? We explain how track racing works

Every major track result of the 2007-2008 season World Cups, World Championships and Olympic Games

PHOTOS

Wednesday's track training session

Cycling Weekly photo gallery homepage

EXTERNAL LINK

Manchester Track World Cup official site for full details of the race programme

Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.