McGregor falls at first

Cycling

ROBIN NICHOLL

reports from Manchester

Yvonne McGregor's World Cup challenge got off on the wrong foot yesterday at the Manchester Velodrome, her track of triumphs, but she bounced back with a British record for 3,000 metres.

The British champion pulled her right foot out of the pedal-clip at the start of her qualifying time trial, allowing the Russian Svetlana Samokhvalova to eliminate her. Samokhvalova's 3min 39.196sec sliced more than four seconds from McGregor's three-week-old track record.

McGregor, who broke the world one-hour record at Manchester in June, later clocked a record 3min 42.386sec when she beat the Ukrainian, Elena Tchalykh, by seven seconds in a challenge match.

The German foursome broke the track record when they won the 4,000metres team pursuit final in 4min12.03sec, beating Russia by a tenth of a second. The record had already been lowered four times yesterday proving the potential of the year-old track which next year hosts the World Championships.

The world No 1, America's Marty Nothstein, won the sprint final and the world points champion, Bruno Risi of Switzerland, was a lap ahead of his rivals and the top points scorer.