Canada's Whitten golden at track cycling worlds

Winning one world omnium title was a remarkable accomplishment for Tara Whitten, but the Canadian cycling star said claiming a second was something else entirely.

The 30-year-old from Edmonton won the gruelling six-discipline omnium at the world track cycling championships Sunday for a second consecutive year, firmly establishing herself as one to beat when the event makes its Olympic debut next year in London.

"To be able to defend the title means a lot," Whitten said on a conference call from the Netherlands "It's one thing to have the race of your life and to win one year, but to come back to win the next year when everybody's gunning for you, I didn't know if I could do it, and I'm just amazed and thrilled that I did."

She sat second in the standings heading into Day 2, but poured it on Sunday with a second-place finish in both the individual pursuit and scratch race to take the lead at the Omnisport velodrome. She sealed her victory with a fifth place in the 500-metre time trial, finishing with 23 points.

Last year's victory, she said, was so overwhelming she couldn't appreciate the importance of it. This time, she planned to savour every moment of it.

"It kind of feels like it's sinking in a bit more this year and I'm able to appreciate it more right in the moment," Whitten said.

American Sarah Hammer won the silver with 31 points, while Kirsten Wild of Netherlands claimed bronze with 42 points.

The omnium is cycling's version of the decathlon in track and field, with six different races over two days. While Whitten has firmly stamped her name at the top of the world standings, the Canadian knows any gap she has on the field could close by London.

"It's a new Olympic event so that always means that people are going to make big improvements as the Olympics approach," said Whitten, a former member of Canada's cross-country ski team.

"I know where I stand now but I know that I need to keep working to make sure I keep improving in all of the events. Even this year compared to last year I felt like there was lot more depth and you can tell that people are really trying to focus on this event."

Breaks between omnium events can be as short as an hour or as long as three hours. The key, Whitten said, is maintaining composure through the two days. She's been working with a sports psychologist, and said she felt more mentally prepared this week than ever.

"The mental part is huge because you really have to be able to take each event as it comes and if it doesn't go exactly as you planned, you have to get over it really fast and refocus on the next event," Whitten said.

Sunday's victory was her third world title. She also won the points race last year.

Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard defended their madison title and added to Australia's gold rush on the final day of the event.

Meyer added gold to the silver he won in the points race and took Australia's gold haul to seven from 17 events. Anna Meares was looking for one more win in the women's keirin later Sunday.

Meyer and Howard started the 50-kilometre madison race slowly and looked in trouble when the Czech pair of Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann stole a lap on the rest of the riders. The race featured 16 pairs of riders who took turns sprinting and catapulting each another forward as they changed.

With around 40 laps to go, the Australians managed to catch up with the Czechs, grabbing extra points by winning a sprint.

The Czechs finished second and the Dutch team of Theo Bos and Peter Schep was third after amassing 21 points in sprints held every 10 laps.

Earlier Sunday, Stefan Nimke of Germany paced his race perfectly to win the men's one-kilometre time trial.

Nimke, a 33-year-old veteran who won silver in the event at the Sydney Olympics and bronze four years later in Athens, finished in one minute 00.793 seconds to give Germany its first gold of the five-day championships.

He put his victory down to staying power over the four-lap dash.

"The success for me comes in the last lap," he said. "I can hold high speeds for a long time. I have no top speed but I have long speed."

The win followed a second-place finish for Nimke in Wednesday's team sprint.

Defending champion Teun Mulder of the Netherlands, roared on by a near-capacity crowd, raced last and was ahead of Nimke's pace for three and a half of the four laps but ran out of steam in the final bend to finish second in 1:01.179.

Mulder said he was "very satisfied with his championships" after also winning bronze Saturday in the keirin.

Francois Pervis of France was third in 1:01.228.

The Australia team has dominated the banked wooden track while Britain, by far the strongest team at the Beijing Olympics, has been disappointing with only one gold, three silver and five bronze.