Three time world champion duo Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch came within a whisker of breaking their own world record to win gold in the team sprint while our men claimed two silver medals at the first round of the UCI Track World Cup Series in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The pair posted a time of 32.938 seconds for the two lap event and were the only team to ride under 33 seconds. Their time was a mere 0.015 or 15-thousandths of a second off the world record they rode to win the 2010 world title in Copenhagen.

"I feel extremely happy," said Meares. "This is the first world cup of the season and this has come out of the really hard pre-season race training we've done. We were so close to a world record, it's really exciting at this point in the season."

The Australians were almost four tenths of a second faster than Olena Tsos and Lyubov Shulika (33.313) from the Ukraine. Germany (33.388) defeated Great Britain (33.588) for third place.

"We had an expectation times would be quick but to step up at this time of year and ride so close to a world record was impressive," said Paul Brosnan, Cycling Australia's High Performance General Manager.

This world cup round is the first international event to be raced on the newly constructed Astana velodrome which has capacity for 15,000 spectators.

"I have never sees a stadium as magnificent as this, and it’s great to see so many people here, enjoying our sport," said Meares. "This is our first time here, and I’m absolutely loving it."

In the three lap men's team sprint the AIS trio of Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland and Matthew Glaetzer set an Australian record in qualifying. Their time of 43.589 eclipsed the previous mark of 43.772 set at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi by Sunderland, Daniel Ellis and Jason Niblett.

In the gold medal ride they crossed the line in a time of 43.661 to claim silver behind Germany's Team Erdgas.2012 (Robert Forstemann, Max Levy and Joachim Eilers) who won the race in 43.474. France (43.757) defeated Germany (43.835) for the bronze medal.

"This was a brand new combination who have never raced together before," said Brosnan. "Scott has never ridden second wheel and it's been five years I reckon since Shane has done a standing lap in competition. Matt is the 2010 junior world champion in sprint and keirin and he's come in and clocked the fastest last lap of anyone in the event."

The Cyclones claimed a silver medal in the team pursuit with an untested quartet of Glenn O'Shea, Mitchell Mulhern, Edward Bissaker and Alex Edmondson clocking 4:01.417 against the Rusvelo team of 2011 world championship silver medallists Evgeny and Ivan Kovalev, Alexey Markov and Alexandr Serov. The Russians clocked 3:56.127 that ranks as one of the fastest times ever ridden.

"The Russians were exceptional and it was their best team on the track," said Brosnan. "We thought they'd be quick, perhaps not that quick though, and they were going are definitely in the mix for London.

"But the way our young pursuit team have handled themselves has been absolutely exceptional," said Brosnan. "They were given a job to do and they delivered."

O'Shea, a dual junior world champion in 2007, is racing his first world cup since 2009. Edmondson won gold in both the Madison and team pursuit (WR) at this year's junior worlds and is making his elite team debut. Bissaker, the 2010 junior team pursuit world champion, stepped into the line up for the final to replace Michael Freiberg who, after Thursday's qualifying ride, switched his focus to the omnium in which he is the reigning world champion.

Australia's women just missed out on the finals. The trio of 2010 team pursuit world champions Sarah Kent and Ashlee Ankudinoff and two time Olympian Kate Bates was fifth fastest and only 17 hundredths of a second (0.17) outside the qualifying mark.

Tonight Frieberg, currently sitting in ninth place, will contest the remaining three rounds of the six race omnium and Amy Cure will line up in the women's omnium. Meares and McCulloch are in action in the sprint, O'Shea will race the individual pursuit and Perkins is entered for the keirin.

The World Cup series includes rounds in Colombia (1-3 December) and China (20-22 January) with the fourth and final round being staged at the London Olympic Games velodrome from 17 to 19 February. The final round is also official London Prepares track cycling test event.

After the World Cup Series the world's greatest will head to Melbourne to contest the 2012 UCI Track World Championships with the Australian Cyclones hoping for a full house of supporters when they take on the world at home.

Cycling Australia