The 35-year-old four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris came around the outside on the final bend to edge out Germany's Rene Enders on the finish line and take keirin gold.

Rowsell then beat New Zealand's Alison Shanks to win the individual pursuit.

But team mate Victoria Pendleton, a winner in the team sprint the previous evening, could only finish fourth in the individual sprint.

Pendleton and Anna Meares (pictured below right) resumed a long-time rivalry in the individual sprint that has included the Briton's victory in the 2008 Olympic final and the Australian's win in last year's world final.


This time Pendleton found triple world champion Meares too strong, losing the deciding race of their semi-final when she gave the Australian a gap to attack and ultimately going down 2-1.

There were surprise results in the two medal races to follow, however, as China's Guo Shuang beat Meares 2-0 for gold, before Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong saw off Pendleton 2-0 for bronze.

"I think meeting Anna Meares in the semis, we gave each other a bit of battering to be honest," said Pendleton.

"The racing was top quality and at this stage of the season it's quite hard to back up that sort of effort when you haven't really done the training for it."

Meares agreed about the effort taken to win her semi-final, saying: "I think both of us paid for it in the final.

"I'm really, really pleased with how I raced tonight. It was a hard-fought battle."

Meares added: "The velodrome is beautiful. I've never heard a crowd make so much noise in my life - it feels like 20,000 people, not 6,000, and is reflective of a country that loves a great sport, and a sport that I'm proud to be a part of."

Laura Trott won the elimination race and moved to third in the women's omnium standings after three races.

The Londoner repeatedly escaped elimination with sprints to the line before out-pacing Canadian world champion Tara Whitten on the final lap.

Sir Chris had had to settle for bronze in Friday's team sprint and looked like missing out again in the latter stages of the keirin, but his power came to the fore as he took the long route to victory down the home straight.

"I made it hard for myself there," Sir Chris said.

"With half a lap to go I wasn't sure I was going to make it but that crowd, when they see you're going to make that move, it's unbelievable. It's like an Olympics."

He added: "I have been deliberately trying to ride from the back, because if you win from the back and the front then you can deal with any situation.

"There's still a lot of work to be done between now and London but I'll always remember this event.

"Everybody's on their feet, full of energy, and we're feeding off that.

"You can almost see the other teams becoming a bit more defensive."


Rowsell (pictured) made a strong start against Shanks in the pursuit final and held her form as the Kiwi cut the deficit midway through the race, with the Briton going away again in the closing stages to win in 3min 32.364sec.

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