Britain dominates cycling championships

By Stephen Farrand

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Britain extended their lead at the top of the medals table in the track cycling world championships on Friday, winning two more titles in the men's sprint and women's 3,000 metre team pursuit.

Britain has now won six gold medals and one silver in three days of racing and is expected to improve their haul of seven golds in 2007.

Chris Hoy won the prestigious men's sprint title in front of a patriotic home crowd on Friday night.

He beat Kevin Sireau of France two rides to nil in the final thanks to his superior speed on the final lap.

France's Mickael Bourgain beat Italy's Roberto Chiappa 2-0 in the ride-off for the bronze.

Britain also struck gold and set an unofficial world record in the new women's 3,000 metre team pursuit event.

Rebecca Romero, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Roswell clocked a time of three minutes, 22.415 seconds, beating Ukraine in the ride-off for the gold medal.

Germany won the bronze medal in the ride-off against Belarus, with a time of 3:26.960