Britain won the men's 4,000 metre team pursuit title in a world record time of three minutes 56.322 seconds at the track cycling world championships in Manchester, while the host nation's women also triumphed in the team sprint and the individual 3,000 metre pursuit.

In a quite superb day for the hosts, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade won the women's team sprint title while Rebecca Romero won the women's 3,000 metre individual pursuit.

Britain have now won four world titles in the opening two days of racing after Wiggins won the men's 4,000 metre individual pursuit.

"It doesn't get much better than this," said Dave Brailsford, British Cycling performance director. "We've all worked long and hard for the world championships in Manchester and so it's great to get the results.

"What I liked about these three titles is that we had to get up and fight. We didn't qualify fastest in the men's team pursuit but they came out fighting, have broken the world record and shown their true colours.

"Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade were fantastic in the women's sprint. They rode a perfectly disciplined ride, as was Rebecca Romero's ride in the women's pursuit."

Britain won seven world titles in the 2007 world championships in Mallorca, Spain and Brailsford was convinced there is more to come this year.

"We've shown we're competitive and I think we'll be competitive in other events. I don't think it's over yet," Brailsford said.

The men's quartet of Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Paul Manning beat Denmark in the ride-off for gold and silver.

Australia won the bronze medal in the ride-off against New Zealand, with a time of 4:00.089.

Reade and Pendleton set a time of 33.661 seconds for the two laps of the 250-metre track, beating China who set a time of 34.223.

Germany won the bronze medal in the ride-off against France.

Romero, 28, set a time of three minutes and 30.501 seconds, beating Sarah Hammer of the United States in the ride-off for gold and silver. Hammer set a time of 3:37.006.

Australia's Katie Mactier won the bronze medal in the ride-off against Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel, with a time of 3:32.347.

The five-day track cycling world championships continue until Sunday. The women's 3,000 metre team pursuit, the men's sprint and the men's points race titles are contested on Friday.

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Reuters / Eurosport