McGregor's a golden oldie in Manchester

13 April 2012

Yvonne McGregor bagged Britain's first gold medal of World Track Championships when she raced to victory against Germany's Judith Arndt in the women's individual pursuit.  

The 39-year-old started slowly in her accustomed fashion but came back strongly to take the gold in style at Manchester Velodrome.

Bradford-born McGregor was a second-and-a-half down on Arndt with just over half of the 3000m race gone.

But by the final kilometre the Olympic bronze medallist had the gap down to a second before she began to really pound the pedals and rapidly chipped away at the tiring the 24-year-old.

And as the bell sounded for the final lap it was clear that McGregor was heading for the title of world champion.

The Cheshire-based cyclist's head shook in disbelief beneath her oyster-shell helmet as she received a standing ovation from her home crowd as the scoreboard showed she had won by just over a second.

The gold medal adds to a world championship bronze, Commonwealth Games gold and silver, and Olympic bronze for the former triathlete and cross-country runner, who only took up cycling after her 30th birthday.

Afterwards McGregor said she would defend her title in Antwerp next year and then retire after 11 years in the sport.

Britain had not had a finalist in the 3,000 metres event since Beryl Burton collected her fifth crown in 1966.

McGregor clocked 3:35.274, taking the lead with two laps of the 250-metre track to cover.

"It is almost better than my Olympic bronze. I could not have written the story better. It shows that age doesn't matter," said McGregor, who took her first world bronze behind Arndt in Perth three years ago.

Russian Elena Tchalykh beat the 1999 world champion Marion Clignet of France - winner of the women's points race earlier this week - to take bronze.

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