Silver medal for Lauren Ellis

Mar 29th, 10. Lauren Ellis rode a great race in the tactical points race lapping the field and winning the final sprint to earn the silver medal on the final night on the track in Copenhagen.

Silver medal in the points race for Lauren Ellis ©BritishCycling.org.uk

The 20 year old from Ashburton positioned herself near the front of the bunch staying out of danger and pushing to lead a group of five who took a lap on the field early in the 25km race.

She attacked again mid-race and then recovered to win the final sprint which elevated her to the silver medal in a superb performance, with Canada's Tara Whitten winning the gold.

"I knew I had to be aggressive. That was the plan tonight and it paid off," said Ellis who is coached by Hayden Roulston.

"It worked out when we managed to take a lap so early. I sat in to recover and went again. I was shattered but knew I had to make one more big effort in that last sprint."

This is the first points podium for Ellis in any Junior or Senior World Championships or World Cup event.

"I told myself that I could put my feet up for three weeks after this so I pushed one more time. It was so hard but it worked out perfectly. It's a real thrill. To come here and get two medals and a world record is incredible. It is right up there for me."

"I am very excited now looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games. That's the big goal for me now and this is a good platform looking forward to New Delhi."

Note: USA's Shelley Evans who crashed badly during the scratch race two days ago bravely contested the points race despite a jaw injury. She finished 11th.

10th for Myron Simpson in the omnium

Auckland's Myron Simpson, the only other New Zealander on the track today, finished 10th in the men's omnium, with personal bests in the 200m time trial, individual pursuit and kilo time trial along the way.

• 200m time trial: 10.647s, 4th
• 10km scratch race: 11th
• 3000m individual pursuit: 3:23.755, 11th
• 15km points race: 15th
• 1km time trial: 1:04.269, 6th
• Overall, 10th

Great Britain's Ed Clancy won ahead of Australia's  Leigh Howard with USA's Taylor Phinney taking bronze in this new Olympic event. Phinney rode against Kiwi Jesse Sergent for gold in the individual pursuit earlier in these championships.

"(The omnium) is a long day completely filled with ups-and-downs. There are so many factors, every placing and second means so much," said Phinney. "The fact that I didn't do so hot in the mass starts and still got third gives me a lot of confidence because I know I am willing to work hard and improve at those. The pursuit is still what I love to do, but I'm really happy being able to get a medal here."

Best NZ medal haul

This is one more medal than the previous best of three gained at Poland last year.  

"We are naturally delighted and excited by the performances this week," said Mark Elliott, BikeNZ High Performance Director. "The team came here with high expectations and knowing they had done the work to be competitive."

"Tonight was the icing on the cake and a terrific performance from Lauren. As well as the medallists in the endurance events, we are really pleased with the emergence of our sprinters. They are a very young group and to have top 10 performances in each of their disciplines and go so close to a medal in the kilo and team sprint was encouraging."

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