Cycling - Italian Ganna takes world pursuit gold

Cycling - Italian Ganna takes world pursuit gold
Cycling - 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - Pruszkow, Poland - March 1, 2019 Italy's Filippo Ganna in action during the men's individual pursuit REUTERS/Kacper Pempel Copyright KACPER PEMPEL(Reuters)
By Reuters
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PRUSZKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Filippo Ganna continued his dominance of the individual pursuit as the Italian produced a stunning performance to take gold at the world track championships on Friday.

The double world and 2017 European champion posted a stunning four minutes 07.456 seconds in morning qualifying - the fastest ever recorded at sea level - and almost matched it in the final with 4:07.992 to overwhelm Germany's Domenic Weinstein.

Davide Plebani took bronze for Italy.

Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands successfully defended her omnium title after a tense, decisive points race.

Locked together with Lety Paternoster she eventually forged clear for gold, with the 19-year-old Italian taking silver and American Jennifer Valente recovering well from a bad crash to claim bronze.

Britain's seven-time world champion Laura Kenny withdrew from the championships earlier on Friday with illness following a below-par performance in Thursday's team pursuit where her team were beaten for gold by Australia.

She was replaced in the omnium - the event where she won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics - by Katie Archibald, herself a former world and European omnium champion, but her chances were hit by a heavy crash in the points race.

Dutchman Jan-Willem van Schip produced a dominant display to take the men's points race ahead of Spain's Sebastian Mora and Mark Downey, who claimed Ireland's first medal of these championships.

Quentin Lafargue of France won the one kilometre time trial - an already-tough test made all the more gruelling by the riders having to ride a qualifying time in the morning.

Dutchman Theo Bos took silver and France got a second man on the podium in the form of Michael D'Almeida as the three fastest qualifiers finished in the same order in the final.

Lee Wai Sze won gold for Hong Kong in the women's sprint, showing remarkable power to twice chase down Stephanie Moreton and leave the Australian with a third successive silver in the event.

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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