SHANAZE Reade and Victoria Pendleton had to settle for second best at the UCI World Track Championships in Poland tonight.

The British duo were chasing a hat-trick of team sprint titles after their successes in Palma and Manchester.

But Australian duo Kaarle McCulloch and Anna Meares snatched their world crown at the Pruszkow velodrome.

The new champions clocked 33.149 seconds with Crewe- based Reade, aged 20, and Pendleton finishing in 33.380 seconds.

They'd also been second fastest in qualification.

And while Pendleton has two more chances to win gold this week, Reade has finished her involvement at the championships.

She will now concentrate her efforts on BMX and has set her sights on three other world titles in two other disciplines.

Britain have now won five medals on the opening two nights of the event, but the first gold has eluded the all-conquering Olympic squad that returned from Beijing with seven track titles.

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