Jess Varnish admitted winning the women’s 500m time trial had provided her with a solid platform from which to try and retain her four titles at the 2014 British National Track Championships in Manchester.
The 23-year-old claimed the time trial, keirin, individual sprint and team sprint at last year’s championships.
And fresh from taking double bronze in the time trial and sprint at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Varnish showed she meant business on Thursday evening.
Up against a field including world team pursuit champion Katie Archibald and double Olympic champion Laura Trott, Varnish clocked a time of 34.419 to take top spot.
Silver went to Vicky Williamson with Katy Marchant taking bronze while Trott and Archibald finished seventh and tenth respectively.
And Varnish, who was riding for Team V-Sprint Racing, admitted she couldn’t have asked for a better start to her championships.
"I'm happy with how it went," said Varnish. "It was a good effort just to come off the back off training, to see where I'm at.
"It's nice to retain a title and the 500 is a really important event because we can see where we are at with standing laps for the team sprint."
Meanwhile in the men’s 1km time trial, Callum Skinner recorded an impressive time of 1:01.843 to take gold ahead of Matt Crampton in second and third-placed Matt Rotherham.
© Sportsbeat 2014