Enlarge imageBy Alasdair Fotheringham
RUSZKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Australian Cameron Meyer took the first gold medal of his career with consistent placings in the points race at the world track championships on Wednesday.
Fourth in the last two world championships and the Olympics, the 21-year-old Meyer netted gold in a tight battle with Dane Daniel Kreutzfeld and Briton Chris Newton.
"It was a very hard race and went down to the last dash for the line, I kept at it and never gave up hope," Meyer told reporters.
"After finishing fourth so many times, I really couldn't have coped with another one. I really wanted the rainbow jersey.
"I sat back and knew that after half the race there'd be a lot of tired guys, so that's when I made my move."
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The women's individual pursuit was an equally close affair, with New Zealand's Alison Shanks pulling out all the stops to beat Olympic silver medallist Wendy Houvenhagel of Britain.
In a thrilling finale, Houvenhagel led for nearly half the course before Shanks clawed her way back. Lithuanian Vilja Sereikaite was third.
"It was very tough, but I didn't go all out this morning in the qualification rounds and kept something back for the final," Shanks told Reuters.
"I wasn't at all certain about whether I was going to win, I had to dig very deep but it paid off."
FIRST GOLD
Sereikaite's team mate Simona Krupeckaite had the honour of claiming the first gold medal of the championships, setting a world record of 33.296 seconds in the women's 500 metre time trial.
Australian Anna Meares took silver 33.796seconds and Victoria Pendleton of Britain was third.
Krupeckaite averaged a speed of 54.060 kmh to finish half a second ahead of 2007 world champion Meares.
France edged out Britain to retain their title in the men's team sprint.
The French trio of Gregory Bauge, Mickael Bourgain and Kevin Sireau led from the first lap to win by less than half a second.
"We've shown that we're still there and a force to be reckoned with," Bauge told Reuters.
"The British are always very tough in these races, they're Olympic champions and beat us there but we're still very much in contention."
(Editing by Ed Osmond. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
