GB's women match men in track pursuit stakes

Great Britain's women cyclists paid tribute to the men as both pursuit teams won gold medals on the final day of the Track World Cup in Manchester.

Lizzie Armitstead, Joanna Rowsell and Wendy Houvenaghel broke the world record with a time of 3mins 21.875secs, shaving 0.54secs off the previous best.

Earlier the men's quartet - Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant - clocked the second fastest time in history, with a track record of three minutes 54.395 seconds, only 1.081secs down on the world record Britain set at the Beijing Games.

The women's event is poised to join the Olympic programme in radical changes that are set to be ratified next month. Rowsell, who along with Houvenaghel and Rebecca Romero held the previous world record, said: "We knew we had it in us from our times in training, we were very confident." The 20-year-old from Cheam, Surrey was aware of the men's performance, which was spurred on by the vociferous crowd.

"That was a really big inspiration for us," she added.

Britain claimed 10 golds from 17 events with Sir Chris Hoy claiming three on his return to competition.