There is no better place than the Olympic Velodrome for British fans at the moment.

Even former Beatle Paul McCartney could not resist the temptation to pop in yesterday, dancing with the 6,000 spectators packing the arena after the mighty British team won a fourth gold medal.

Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell had been unbeatable since the start of the team pursuit tournament, having improved the world record in qualifying.

They again lowered the mark in the first round and were even better in the final to claim gold after shattering their record, clocking 3 minutes and 14.051 seconds over the 3,000 meters.

They went so fast that they had their American rivals in the line of fire in the home stretch to the finish. Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Jennie Reed were never in contention and took the silver medal in 3:19.727.

Tara Whitten, Gillian Carleton and Jasmin Glaesser of Canada claimed bronze in 3:17.915 after defeating Annette Edmondson, Melissa Hoskins and Josephine Tomic of Australia.

After dominating the track events in Beijing four years ago, the British team looks poised for a repeat, having already won four of the five gold medals awarded so far in track cycling.

And it’s not only the women who are dancing in on the super fast track where world records have fallen 10 times.

In the men’s competition, British Jason Kenny eased through the quarterfinals of the sprint, track cycling’s blue ribbon event.

Kenny, who was awarded the sole spot available in that event at the expense of defending champion Chris Hoy, set a Olympic record of 9.713 seconds in qualifying, at an average speed of 74.127 kilometres (46.06 miles) per hour.

He then benefited from a first-round bye and comfortably defeated Bernard Esterhuizen of South Africa in the second round.

Hoy, who won the team sprint with Kenny earlier this week, was not able to compete in the individual event after the UCI changed the competition format, allowing only one rider per nation in the sprint events.

The new rule has watered down the field, depriving some of the world’s best sprinters of a chance to compete on the biggest stage.

World champion Gregory Bauge, the pre-tournament favorite after his triumphant ride to the world title earlier this year, also advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Seiichiro Nakagawa of Japan.

Bauge, who won silver in the team sprint, is hoping to give France its first Olympic gold medal in the individual sprint in 40 years.

“Everything is going alright,” Bauge said. “I had a match less than most of my opponents so that’s a good thing. I can spare energy, which I will need when it gets more intense.”

Known for his raw burst of speed, Bauge claimed his third individual sprint world title in March after recovering from a quadriceps tondinitis.

Shane Perkins of Australia reached the quarters after race commissaires ruled he was impeded by Hersony Canelon of Venezuela.

“I did not sleep very well,” Perkins said. “I caught a bit of a virus the night before the team sprint so I had to move out into another building, so my teammates wouldn’t catch it. It sort of knocked the edge of me a bit but I’m not complaining. Considering all that I’m pretty happy and my form is still good.”

Sprint specialists Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia and Robert Forstemann of Germany also advanced through the repechages round.

“I will call my wife and get some motivation work from her,” Awang said. “She’s pregnant right now and I want to bring back the gold medal for my baby.”

Fresh from the gold medal he won with his British teammates in the pursuit, Ed Clancy got off to a strong start in the omnium, winning the first of the six events of the new Olympic competition.

Clancy posted a time of 12.556 seconds in the flying lap and was more than half a second faster than Shane Archbold of New Zealand.

The omnium mixes endurance and sprint events. Each rider receives a score in each event equivalent to their finishing position. The rider with the lowest score wins the competition.