World record times were set in the first two finals of the world track cycling championships Wednesday by the British men in the team pursuit and Germany in the women's team sprint. Olympic champion Britain claimed the first gold medal at Melbourne's Hisense Arena, edging out defending champ Australia in what many expect to be a preview of the London Olympic gold-medal race. Edward Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Steven Burke and Geraint Thomas led from the start to finish in a new world mark of 3 minutes, 53.295 seconds, eclipsing the 3:53.314 the team set to win gold at the Beijing Olympics. Australia's Jack Bobridge, Glenn O'Shea, Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn finished in 3:53.401. New Zealand (3:57.592) won the bronze medal after beating Russia (3:59.273). Australian trio Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland and Matthew Glaetzer won the team sprint in 42.266 seconds to beat Gregory Bauge, Kevin Sireau and Michael D'Almeida of France (42.267) by literally a millisecond. In the women's team sprint, Germany's Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel beat three-time defending champs Anna Meares and Kaarl McCulloch of Australia in 32.549, the third world-best time of the day after they set a record in qualifying. The previous record of 32.754 was by Britain at last month's World Cup in London.
