Cycling: McGregor gets off to fine start in pursuit

Britain's Yvonne McGregor qualified third fastest for today's quarter- finals in the 3,000 metres pursuit on the Stone Mountain Park track, writes Robin Nicholl.

McGregor was one of five to beat the Barcelona record of Germany's Petra Rossner, but her time of 3min 39.545sec was some seven seconds slower than her personal best, set on Manchester's indoor velodrome.

McGregor, the world hour record holder, raced against Italy's Antonella Bellutti, who set a world 3,000m best of 3:31.924 in Colombia in April. Bellutti underlined her quest for gold with an Olympic record of 3:34.130, breaking the minutes-old best set by France's Marion Clignet on the 250m track.

"I am glad that is out of the way," McGregor said. "The first is always the toughest ride and I was troubled in the windy conditions because it affected the five-spoke wheel I was using." She meets New Zealand's Sarah Ullmer today.