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He does it again

Bartko breaks world record; France wins Olympic sprint

Germany's Robert Bartko celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's individual pursuit at Dunc Gray Velodrome. AP

SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Robert Bartko of Germany won the 4,000-meter individual pursuit final Sunday, breaking the world record he set a day earlier.

Bartko reduced the mark by nearly another half second by winning in 4:18.515. On Saturday, he took seven-tenths of a second off the record of Itaian Andrea Collinelli.

Countryman Jens Lehmann of Germany was more than five seconds back to claim the silver in 4:23.824.

"I started slowly, but very soon my legs became so powerful, my confidence increased continuously," Bartko said. "I felt from the middle of the race I was going to win."

It was the first gold medal of the Games for Germany, who finished third in the medal chase four years ago in Atlanta with 20.

The gold was assured on Saturday when both Bartko and Lehman won their respective semifinal heats.

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"I had to work very hard to keep up the pace of my opponent," Lehman said Sunday. "I managed to do it until about the halfway mark when I gradually fell back."

In the bronze medal race, Australia's Brad McGee finished in 4:19.250, beating Rob Hayles of Britain, who was clocked in 4:19.613.

McGee gave some credit for his medal to the crowd, joining the growing praise for the supportive Australian public of all the local hopefuls.

"I'm rapt. I just rode it like a wave," McGee said. "Those blokes over at the back straight, they were everything."

In Sunday's other gold-medal event, France won the Olympic sprint, using an all-star lineup in standout riders Laurent Gane, Florian Rousseau and Arnaud Tournant to finish the three-lap event in 44.233 seconds.

Britain won the silver in 44.680. Australia was timed in 45.161 to beat Greece in the bronze medal race.

Bartko wasn't the only one to set a world record though on Sunday.

Leontien Zijlaard of the Netherlands broke the world mark in the semifinals of the women's 3,000-meter individual pursuit, only hours after she had established an Olympic record.

Zijlaard was timed in 3:30.816, breaking the mark of 3:30.974 by Marion Clignet of France at the 1996 world championships at Manchester, England. Zijlaard and Clignet will race in an intriguing gold medal final Monday.

In Sunday's preliminaries, Zijlaard set an Olympic record at 3:31.580.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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