Cycling rivalry heats up

The cycling rivalry between Australia and Great Britain has peaked ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games after world records were set and broken in the women’s team sprint at the official cycling test event.

NSWIS cyclist Kaarle McCulloch teamed with Anna Meares to set a new world record in the heats of the women’s team sprint, lowering their own mark to 32.828 seconds in the velodrome that will host the Games’ cycling events.

The Australian duo went into the final as favourites, having won three consecutive world championships, before being stunned by the home crowd favourites Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton in the final. In winning gold the British duo served a warning to the Australians by setting a new world record time of 32.754 seconds, an exciting prelude to July’s Olympic Games.