Britain to face NZealand in women's team pursuit

Britain will aim to defend their women's team pursuit crown against New Zealand after clocking the fastest time in qualifying here at the world track cycling championships on Thursday.

Australia will face the Netherlands in the bronze medal match-up.

In the absence of Olympic pursuit champion Rebecca Romero of England, Northern Ireland's Wendy Houvenaghel set the pace for Britain who came home in a time of 3min 25.147sec, nearly six tenths of a second faster than the qualifying time last year which eventually led them to gold in Manchester.

New Zealand had the experience of Alison Shanks to rely on less than 24 hours after she beat Houvenaghel to gold in the women's individual event.

The Kiwis came home in a time of 3:26.023.

The key to winning gold later Wednesday will be recuperating between sessions, a factor which Shanks said Wednesday proved crucial as she rode to her first world crown.

With Romero at the helm last year, Britain stepped up a level from their qualifying time to later win gold in an impressive 3:22.415.