Thursday was a fantastic day for the Australian Cyclones at the UCI Track World Championships in Melbourne. The Team Pursuit girls won silver, Anna Meares broke a world record and progressed to the Sprint semis and Glenn O’Shea leads half-way through the Omnium.

Meares launched the defence of her sprint world title with a sizzling world record time of 10.782 for the flying 200 metre qualifying at the UCI Track World Championships in Melbourne.

Her time shaved 11 thousandths of a second off the previous mark of 10.793 set by Lithuanian Simona Krupeckaite in Moscow in May 2010. The time was also well under her previous best of 10.939 and was an unexpected surprise for Meares.

"I was no where near expecting that. I would have been really pleased with a low nine (10.9) high eight (10.8) which is right around a PB (personal best) mark for me. Anything in the eight (10.8) would have been perfect," said Meares.

"I was surprised during the effort because I remember when I sat down I was thinking to myself 'this doesn't feel good. Go! Go! Go!, Go harder! Go harder! Go harder!'

"I probably should do that every time I do a 200 because I ended up breaking the world record."

Meares' husband, parents and a host of family members were track side cheering her on as were the rest of the fans in the stands with the support reaching a crescendo when the clock showed her as fastest at the halfway point.

"I noticed it," said Meares. "It's not distinct, it's a loud muffle and the pitch changes so knew I was either close or up on the mark from the riders before so just tried to hang on."

There was little time to celebrate however as ten minutes later she lined up for the first round of the women's sprint match races where she defeated Colombian Juliana Gavaria to move into the second round.

"For me that's a new benchmark it's a new level I've reached and I'm really proud of that but speed's only one part of this game," said Meares. "It's down to tactics, it's down to nerves, it's down to decision making and speed doesn't win it for you. I've got to get it right across the board if I want to come home with that world title."

In the evening session quarter finals Meares came up against China's Guo Shuang who had defeated her in the gold medal final at the London World Cup round in February. This time however Meares had her measure winning the first race and fending her off in the second for which Guo received a warning from officials.

That has set up a semi final showdown between Meares and Olympic Champion, Victoria Pendleton, of Great Britain who was the fifth fastest in qualifying. The second semi final will pit previous world record holder Simona Krupeckaite (LTU) against Lyubov Shulika (UKR).

Australia's Kaarle McCulloch qualified tenth best in a time of 11.105 but was outgunned by French rider Sandie Clair in the first round.

The day also saw world record rides in the women's 3000 metre team pursuit where Australia's trio of Josephine Tomic, Melissa Hoskins and Annette Edmondson scored silver behind Great Britain's Joanna Rowsell, Danielle King and Laura Trott.

In the qualifying round the Australians clocked a time of 3.17.053 to break the Brit's world record mark of 3:18.148 set in February. Ten minutes later the British line up reclaimed the limelight with a stunning 3:16.850. That set up a scintillating gold medal final between the two nations.

The Australians began strongly and led for the first two kilometres before their rivals countered with a powerful late surge that saw them draw level with two and a half laps remaining. They then brought it home to lower the world mark by another second with their final time of 3:15.720.

Great Britain's experience in being able to back up from qualifying made the difference against the Australian trio who had only ridden together three times previously and had never had to line up for a final on the same day as qualifying.

"Twelve months ago we finished the world championships in fourth place after winning the previous year so I was gutted," said Tomic.

"So to come back, I'm stoked ... this is only the second and third times we've ridden together, we three,"said Tomic after the final. "To do such quick times, I couldn't be happier.

"My goal here was to get on the podium and improve on London and we've done that, so we've got one step to go and we've got a few months hopefully to get there."

Edmondson says the cheering as they headed into each straight was great motivation.

"I don’t think we’d be doing such fast times if it wasn’t for them," said Edmondson who is riding in her first senior worlds team.

"(During the final) we didn’t want to step off at all. We just watched our coach and tried to stay where we were and just kept trying to build and build," she said. "But in the end, the Brits got us on the day and the better team won but we gave it a good shot."

"We'll have more practice together, and we’ve also got other girls at home who are pushing us for the spots, so we’re not going to be able to rest on our laurels," said Tomic predicting both teams will go even faster in London. "Everyone’s just going to be working harder and getting faster so this is just the motivation we needed to be right back up there."

"If we don't have that attitude, there's no point going to the Games," said Hoskins when asked if the Australians could beat Great Britain for Olympic gold in London.

Canada (3:19.529) defeated New Zealand (3:19.847) in the bronze medal final.

The men's omnium competition began today with the first three of the six races that make up the event that will be raced at an Olympic Games for the first time this year.

Australian champion, Glenn O'Shea, who yesterday was a member of the pursuit team that claimed the silver medal, got off to a great start with third place in the flying lap time trial. He then finished fifth in the points race before a cagey second place ride in the elimination race to give him a midway total of 10 points. That puts him six clear of Canadian Zach Bell and eight ahead of Britain's Ed Clancy. On Friday the omnium scratch race, individual pursuit and kilometre time trial will be contested to decide who will be the 2012 world champion.

In the men's kilometre time trial final South Australian James Glasspool, finished ninth after posting a personal best time of 1:02.165. That was three tenths of a second off the time of 1:02.433 that he rode to win the Australian title in January. The gold medal went to defending champion Stefan Nimke who covered the four laps in a time of 1:00.082 to defeat French rider Michael D'Almeida (1:00.509) and New Zealand's Simon Van Velthooven (1:00.543) who placed third.

Tasmania's Amy Cure lined up for Australia in the 100 lap, 25 kilometre women's points race and won the first of the 10 sprints contested but the teenager found the going a little tough against her more experienced rivals and finished the race in tenth place with a total of six points. The gold medal was won by Russia's Anastasia Chulkova who amassed 31 points, 20 through lapping the field along with eventual silver medallist Jasmin Glaesser of Canada (28 points) and Caroline Ryan of Ireland who claimed bronze with 24 points.

Friday's racing will see the male sprinters back in action with team sprint world champions Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland and Matthew Glaetzer up in the individual sprint qualifying round. Annette Edmondson will turn her attention from her team pursuit silver medal ride to the women's omnium, Melissa Hoskins will contest the scratch race and the women's sprint medals will be decided.

2012 UCI Track World Championships - Cyclones Australian team list and medal summary

Gold

• Men's Team Sprint* - Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland, Matthew Glaetzer

Silver

• Women's Team Sprint* - Anna Meares, Kaarle McCulloch
• Men's Team Pursuit* - Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn, Glenn O'Shea, Rohan Dennis
• Women's Team Pursuit* - Josephine Tomic, Melissa Hoskins, Annette Edmondson

* Events on the Olympic Games program