No gold for Storey as Britain's team sprinters lose their unbeaten record

By Sportsbeat staff

SARAH Storey's introduction into the team sprint squad did not produce a golden finale to a week of British dominance at the Para-Cycling Track World Championship in Los Angeles.

Storey, a seven-time Paralympic champion in swimming and cycling, who was only recently cut from the Olympic cycling programme, is used to breaking barriers and became the first woman to join the squad.

But alongside Darren Kenny and Jody Cundy she settled for silver in LA, as China took gold to end Great Britain's five-year unbeaten run in the event.

But there was gold medal success for Anthony Kappes and pilot Craig MacLean who won the sprint tandem, setting a new world record in qualifying.

In a perfect preparation for this summer's Paralympics, Great Britain finished the event with a haul of 17 medals, including eight gold, seven silver and two bronze medals.

But head coach Chris Furber believes it will be tough to repeat Team GB's Beijing dominance at London 2012, citing the rise of a powerful Chinese squad as a chief concern.

"We knew the standard here was going to be high but it's been tougher than we expected," he said.

"It's been a bit of a wake-up call for some riders and we've got to work really hard between now and the Games to stay in front where we are in front and get in front where we're not.

"We now need to look at the data to see if we can spread ourselves more thinly across more events or whether it's within our best interest to focus on one event.

"However, we are in the medal mix and that's really important because if you're in the medal mix here, you're going to be competitive in London."

© Sportsbeat 2012