Great Britain's Shanaze Reade was satisfied with a silver medal at the BMX World Championships after a crash hampered her preparations for Birmingham.
Crewe rider Reade won the 2011 world time-trial title in Copenhagen, but qualified only ninth fastest at the National Indoor Arena on the opening day of elite competition.
The 23-year-old stopped the clock in 29.401 seconds in the final and held the lead until Australia's Caroline Buchanan, the fastest qualifier and last to ride, finished in 28.942secs to snatch gold, leaving the Briton second and France's Eva Ailloud (29.699) third.
The race came just a week after Reade was hospitalised with severe concussion following a crash at the BMX track in Manchester, an incident which caused her to miss three days' training in London, which represented the last chance to ride the Olympic track before August's competition.
"I took a pretty heavy slam - not the best preparation leading into a worlds," said Reade, who is set to bid for a fourth super cross world title on Saturday. "I missed the Olympic training due to injury and just had to rest up.
"Sometimes the goalposts move and you've got to move with them. I gave it my absolute best today and that best was a silver.
"A gold medal would've been absolutely great, but to get silver was fantastic. Hopefully tomorrow's a new day."
Reade was roared on by a partisan crowd and enjoyed the experience.
She added: "It was amazing. As soon as my name was announced everybody was cheering and it lifted my spirits. I went from ninth in the first time-trial to second. The crowd has a big influence."