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Reed crowned keirin champ
American Jennie Reed ended Britain's gold rush when she overpowered Victoria Pendleton to win the keirin in the final event of the world track cycling championships on Sunday.
Defending champion Pendleton, a gold winner in the team sprint and sprint, claimed the silver medal, with Germany's Christin Muche taking the bronze after a photo-finish decision.
It was the first world track title for Reed, a bronze medalist at Melbourne in 2004. The American pulled ahead of a four-rider bunch in the closing meters, and Pendleton appeared to run out of steam after launching a late charge, having been at the back of the pack early on as the motorpacer brought the riders around the track.
The 29-year-old Reed was only too happy to be the one who ended Britain's hopes of grabbing 10 golds from the 18 on offer.
"I think most of us were already yawning at the thought of another gold medal," said Reed, who finally put the United States among the medals with a bronze in the sprint after Sarah Hammer failed to defend her pursuit crown, finishing fourth.
"They were just dominating. Finally we got our name up there. Everyone wants the perfect race, and finally it worked out for me.
"To come around Vicki was really exciting. She's always good and she's always so strong, but in the keirin I know my tactics are usually pretty good. I told myself just to attack, and when I decided to go I knew it had to be a full effort."
Pendleton, who is Britain's big hope for sprint gold in Beijing, was sorely disappointed and admitted she had miscalculated.
"I'm pretty pleased with my performance. That last race I just timed it a little bit wrong. I should have gone a fraction of a second earlier," said Pendleton.
"But Jennie did a great job. Congratulations to her."
With the 2007-08 international track cycling season now complete, Reed will set her sights on preparing for the Beijing Games where she will likely compete in the sprint.
"I love the keirin, but I'm pretty happy with where I'm at in the sprint right now," said Reed. "My form has improved, so I'm excited."
But so is Pendleton, who will be out for revenge in Beijing.
"The sprint by far outweighs all the other events here. It's the only one that matters this year because it's the only Olympic chance I've got."
Kilometer time trial
Flying Dutchman Teun Mulder upset French hopes of gold to claim the kilometer crown, setting a time of 1 minute, 01.332 seconds for the four-lap race against the clock to claim the title ahead of French duo Michael D'Almeida and Francois Pervis.
D'Almeida provisionally led the field in a time of 1:01.514 but Mulder, a bronze-medal winner in the keirin, was half a second faster after the first lap and went on to push the Frenchman off top spot.
Pervis was the last to start and looked to have one hand on the gold but he let slip the slimmest of leads during the final lap.
His third-place finish pushed Britain's Matthew Crampton down into fourth, after he had set a promising early time of 1:01.822.
Defending world champion Chris Hoy of Great Britain did not take part in the kilo, having given it up in favor of the keirin and sprint.
Hoy, the winner of the keirin and sprint crowns here, is also the reigning Olympic kilo champion — however, the event has been taken off the Olympic program.
Mulder's second career world title comes three years after he won the keirin gold in Los Angeles.
But he admitted Sunday's race was not even on his agenda.
"I didn't want to race today but the coaches told me that I had to because I had form," said Mulder, who has been racing all week in the various rounds of the sprint and keirin.
"I didn't even have the proper kilo handlebars for my bike, I had to borrow them from one of the girls (in the team). So I didn't have any pressure. I basically raced for fun."
Since he is an established sprint and keirin rider, Mulder hasn't trained for the kilo for three years.
D'Almeida had done only two events in the four-lap race this year but that didn't stop him posting a personal best to claim his first world-championship medal.
"I don't know anything about how Mulder prepared, but he's a far more experienced rider than me and I'm much younger," D'Almeida, whose previous best was 1:02.300, told AFP.
"Whether you train or not, if you can go fast you can still do well in the kilo."
Men’s omnium
Hayden Godfrey handed New Zealand its only gold medal of the world track cycling championships on Sunday when he won the five-event omnium.
Australian Leigh Howard claimed second place to bag the silver with Aliaksandr Lisouski of Belarus taking the bronze.
Lisouski, the winner of the men's scratch gold in midweek, finished level on points with defending champion Alois Kankovsky but the Czech rider finished fourth due to inferior performances from the timed events.
The omnium was introduced at the worlds last year and includes five events: the 200m flying start sprint, scratch race, pursuit, points race and kilometer time trial.
At the end the results of all five races are turned into points, and the rider with the lowest number is pronounced winner.
Godfrey was third in the sprint, won the scratch, finished fourth in the pursuit and then placed seventh in the points race.
A fourth-place finish after the four laps of the kilo, won by Britain's Steven Burke, allowed him to claim the gold medal and finally put the Kiwis among the medals after Hayden Roulston had lost out on the individual-pursuit bronze on the opening day.
"I'm delighted. When I first heard about this event a couple of years ago I knew it could suit me," said Godfrey, who is based in New Zealand but who has raced in the United States for the past seven years.
"I'm not really a specialist in anything, more a jack of all trades and master of none.
"Unfortunately last year in Mallorca I couldn't compete because I had an injury. I've had to wait another year to have a crack at it, so I'm just really happy it worked out.
"New Zealand's not won many world titles so I'm happy to be part of that small group."
Women’s scratch race
Eleonora van Dijk of the Netherlands won the women's scratch gold medal on Sunday.
Defending world champion Yumari Gonzalez sprinted to second place for the silver with Belinda Goss winning bronze for Australia.
