Meares and Pendleton back on track
OLYMPIC champion Victoria Pendleton and Beijing silver medallist Anna Meares are on track for another showdown.
The arch rivals cruised into contention to win sprint gold after powering their way through qualifying. Pendleton showed no intention of easing up following her triumph in the keirin by beating her own Olympic record of 10.724secs for the 200m flying lap to blast into the quarter-finals.
Meares was the only other rider in the 18-woman field to go under 11secs, the 29-year-old Queenslander clocking 10.805secs to show she was keen to make up for finishing fifth behind Pendleton in the keirin.
The good news for cycling fans is Pendleton and Meares are not scheduled to go head-to-head unless they make the gold medal ride.
The performance of Meares was the only highlight for Australia after world champion Glenn O'Shea faded to finish fifth in the first ever Olympic men's omnium. O'Shea led heading into the final two events, but a poor ride in the 15km scratch race saw him slip out of contention.
