Victoria Pendleton won the women's sprint title in dramatic fashion after crashing in the semifinals and twice profiting from officials' rulings at the world track cycling championships Friday. After a comfortable win over Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania in the first finals heat, Olympic champion Pendleton was edged out in the second following an elbow touch in the closing meters. Race officials later reversed the result and awarded Pendleton her sixth world title after ruling that Krupeckaite was riding dangerously. The announcement of the decision prompted loud boos from the crowd at Melbourne's Hisense Arena. “This is probably the most significant and probably one of the most emotional world titles being the last time I'm going to do this so obviously it means a lot to me,” Pendleton, who plans to retire after the London Olympics, told reporters. “I'm delighted to win but it's nice to win by crossing the line first. Relegations always make you feel kind of a bit weird and iffy, so it's a shame in some respects and not great for the crowd either but, you know, they're the rules. “I was just thinking ‘come on Vic, put your legs up, you've got to get ready for a third'.” Pendleton earlier lost her first semifinals heat to Australian defending champ Anna Meares when she fell while contesting the sprint line. Pendleton appeared to connect her elbow with Meares while defending her lead, causing her bike to slide out from under her. The British rider suffered track burns to her shoulder, hip and knee but was otherwise remarkably calm in the pits afterward. Pendleton looked to be eliminated from the event when Meares easily won the second heat, but was later awarded the win by officials who said Meares impeded Pendleton's line. She won the deciding third heat to set up a gold-medal race against Krupeckaite, who beat Lyubov Shulika of Ukraine in the other semifinal. Meares and Pendleton hugged on the infield after the race. Meares went on to win the bronze medal after cruising past Shulika in both third-place heats. The win gives Pendleton a psychological advantage going into the London Olympics where she and Meares will again be favorites for the event. After scraping into the sprint quarterfinals, four-time Olympic champion Chris Hoy of Britain reached the men's sprint semifinals by a photo finish in the third and deciding heat against Germany's Robert Foerstemann. Hoy was earlier beaten by Frenchman Gregory Bauge in the second round of qualifying and was forced to book his quarterfinals spot via the repechage round. Hoy will race Bauge again in Friday's semifinals, while fellow Briton Jason Kenny rides against Australia's Shane Perkins after his third heat loss to Mickael Bourgain was reversed by officials who ruled the Frenchman left his lane twice during the ride. These world championships also serve as Olympic qualifiers, and changes to the qualification process dictate that each nation can only have one representative in the sprint events at London — meaning Friday's races carry extra significance for Hoy and Kenny. Katarzyna Pawlowska of Poland produced a powerful burst of speed in the final meters to claim the women's scratch race title. Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic made a break with four laps remaining, but could not maintain her lead and was overhauled by the pack in the final sprint. Australia's Melissa Hoskins was second and Belgium's Kelly Druyts third.
