.britain's gold haul

A year ago in Palma the UK track cycling team racked up a superb seven gold medals. 12 months on and the World Championships were on home turf, taking place in the Manchester velodrome. It was stated before they started that even matching the achievements of Palma would be a fantastic result, and with a startling amount of domestic television coverage afforded the events the pressure was really on.

But the track racing team took that challenge and absolutely throttled it. Nine gold medals later and the sheer dominance of British cycling was confirmed.

It would be virtually impossible to pick out the best performances as there were so many: Rebecca Romero making such a successful switch from rowing to cycling; Shanaze Reade partnering Victoria Pendleton to such dramatic effect; Pendleton herself cementing her reputation; Bradley Wiggins with three golds; Mark Cavendish riding through the pain barrier. But we're going to reserve special praise for Chris Hoy, who with his golds in the sprint (unexpected, especially after the first heat of the quarter final against Theo Bos) and the keirin became the first track cyclist ever to win gold medals in four different disciplines.