Australia's women's team pursuit trio of Annette Edmondson, Melissa Hoskins and Josephine Tomic have finished fourth at the Olympic Velodrome tonight after being beaten in the first round by the USA and then by Canada for bronze.

The Aussies, coached by Gary Sutton, brother of the head coach of the all-conquering Great Britain team, Shane Sutton, were on world record pace through the first two kilometres, but wilted slightly to finish in 3min 16.935sec, compared with their opponents' 3:16.853.

This means the Aussies will meant Canada rode-off for the bronze medal with the Canadians. The girls rode 3:18.06 and were beaten for the bronze by the Canadians.

But no team got close to the flying Brits. Their trio of Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell smashed the world record mark they set in qualifying when they registered a blistering 3:14.682sec in the first round. They then smashed their own record later in the session with 3:14.051.

The United States won silver. The difference was the strength and endurance of the Brits.

The Australians got away to a flying 1.07 first kilometre start after being led out by Edmondson, and went through the second kilometre in 2:11.05, but could not sustain that pace.

In contrast, Great Britain went through the second kilometre in 2:11.2, but were still able to power home.

Men's sprint

Victorian Commonwealth Games champion Shane Perkins survived a scare in the second round before advancing to the quarterfinals of the men's sprint without having to go through the repechage heats.

Perkins, 25, was baulked by opponent Hersony Canelon of Venezuela at a critical stage of their clash and put his hand up in protest as his opponent cruised to the line well clear.

Television commentators felt the Venezuela rider had not ridden out of the sprint lane as Perkins tried to pass on the inside. But the commissaires ruled otherwise, and all the Aussie supporters in the packed velodrome would have breathed a sigh of relief.

Perkins was the third fastest qualifier from the morning's session behind Great Britain's Jason Kenny and Frenchman Gregory Baugue - the only three riders to clock inside 10 seconds for the flying 200m.

Perkins said he had been battling a virus ahead of the start of the cycling program, and had been isolated from the rest of the team.

"I did not sleep very well (before his qualifying ride)," he said. "I caught a bit of a virus before the team sprint, so I had to move out into another building, so my teammates wouldn't catch it.

"It sort of knocked the edge off me a bit, but I'm not complaining. Considering all that, I'm pretty happy, and my form's still good."

Perkins said he was happy with his qualifying time. "I'm in under 10 (seconds), so I'm really happy with that. The times in my training were quicker, and hopefully, I'm doing Australia proud by getting into the next round."

Perkins said he felt the packed stadium was behind everyone, not just the Great Britain riders.

"With the Olympic record, the pressure is on him (Kenny) now," he said. "The form's there, so everyone's eyes are on him. The crowd's been great for everyone, they're not just getting behind the Brits, they get in behind everyone."

Kenny, silver medallist at the world championships in April, justified his selection as Great Britain's rider ahead of five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy, by breaking Hoy's Olympic record in the qualifying round.

Kenny rode a time of 9.713sec compared with Hoy's 9.815 set at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Omnium

World omnium champion Glenn O'Shea was equal third overall after the second round of the event at the Olympic Velodrome tonight.

O'Shea, 23, from Bendigo in central Victoria, finished eighth in the 120-lap, 30km points race behind Germany's Roger Kluge, so picked up eight points to add to his three from the morning's flying 200m lap when he ran third in a time of 13.222sec.

Great Britain's Ed Clancy, a member of the all-conquering team pursuit quartet, led after the morning round, but slumped to fifth on 12 points after finishing 11th in the points race.

The new leader in the omnium on six points is former world junior champion Lasse Hansen, of Denmark, who was second in the points race and fourth in the first round.

Frenchman Bryan Coquard is second overall on nine points.

The third round of the omnium, the elimination race, will be contested later tonight.

*Update*

World champion Glenn O'Shea sits third overall after three completed rounds of the omnium.

The 23-year-old Victorian finished third in the elimination race behind Frenchman Bryan Coquard and Italian Elia Viviani to add to his eighth in the 30km points race.

O'Shea now has 14 points, four adrift of Coquard (10) and one behind Viviani (13).

Dane Lasse Hansen, who held after the second round, has dropped to fifth overall on 18 points after being the 12th rider eliminated last night.

O'Shea faces three more testing events tomorrow (Day 9 of competition) to complete his event - the 4km individual pursuit in the morning, and the 15km scratch race and 1km time trial in the afternoon session.

Cycling Australia