In pursuit of glory, women cyclists aim to be fastest ever

Joanna Rowsell, 23, and Dani King, 21, are hoping to secure a place to compete in the pursuit event - the first time the three-kilometre race has featured in the Games for women.

Rowsell and King are competing with Laura Trott, 19, and Olympic silver medallist Wendy Houvenaghel, 37, for three places, with one in reserve.

Britain's new generation of cyclists will be competing in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup test event which starts on Thursday at the Olympic Park velodrome.

The two-day event is part of the London Prepares series to allow organisers to road test Olympic venues before the Games begin.

They are being tipped to follow in the footsteps of gold medal winners Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy and contribute to Team GB's medal haul.
Rowsell said she wanted to take four seconds off the world record, adding: "Our fastest time is three minutes 19.7 seconds, we'd like to see three minutes and 15 seconds.

"It's quite an improvement, but that's the target we are setting ourselves. It's going to be faster than anyone has ever gone in the world." King, formerly a champion cycling sprinter, has enjoyed huge success since joining the pursuit squad in 2010. She calls her father, Trevor, a two-time Olympic biathlon competitor, the "motivation" behind her dream of Olympic gold.

"From a young age I've always wanted to be the best I can and was a swimmer and a runner before I started cycling," she said. "I've always said I wanted to become a world and Olympic champion."
King's boyfriend is Welsh racer Matt Rowe, 23, and she lives with cycling sprinter Becky James, 20, near Manchester's National Cycling Centre.

Like King, Rowsell lives in Manchester during the training season but during the summer trains at Boxhill, near her parents' Sutton home, and began racing at Herne Hill velodrome.

Rowsell also told how she had suffered from alopecia since childhood.

She said: "It was a huge thing to face when I was younger. I first lost my hair when I was 10. I was in primary school when you want to do your hair nicely. I can't affect if my hair grows or not and I can't make it grow back. I'm not going to let it hold me back and I wouldn't want it to.

"(Cycling) gives me something else to focus on rather than dwelling on the negatives and how I look. I wake up every day thinking about the Olympics and how I'm going to win."