Hoy wins fourth world keirin crown

Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy, of Britain, won his fourth world keirin title after a stunning tactical manoeuvre in a thrilling finale at the track cycling world championships yesterday.

Maximilian Levy, of Germany, was second with Britain’s Jason Kenny moving up from fourth to take the bronze after the jury relegated third-place finisher Simon Van Velthooven of New Zealand.

Hoy is still battling Kenny for Britain’s sole sprint spot at the London Games this summer but on Saturday could only win bronze as Kenny won silver losing out to Frenchman Gregory Bauge for gold.

With the keirin spot also undecided, the Scot came in determined to make amends – and when all looked lost he found a space on the side of Van Velthooven on the final bend before nicking victory from Levy at the line.

A day after Kenny scored valuable points in his bid to be selected for the sprint ahead of the Scot, Hoy said he was determined to show that in the keirin at least there is only one man for the Games.

“I was in the right frame of mind today and determined to make up for the slight disappointment of last night, and to just try and secure the (keirin) place at the Olympics,” said Hoy

“Above all else this is still a selection race for us, so hopefully to gain that Olympic spot now is a huge achievement. It’s been a real battle all the way with Matt (Crampton) and Jason (Kenny).

“Hopefully I’ve done enough to get that (keirin) place in the team.”

Meanwhile, Australia’s Anna Meares claimed her fourth title in the women’s 500m time trial in a world record time yesterday.

Eight years after claiming her maiden gold in the two-lap race against the clock, Meares continued to show she will be a strong medal contender at the London Olympics where she will aim for triple gold.

Meares’ time of 33.010sec in the 500m – a non-Olympic event – beat the previous best time of 33.296sec set by Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania at the 2009 world championships in Poland.