Emma Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant dominated the women’s team sprint to take Great Britain’s first Track World Championship gold in the event since 2008.

The trio, who were crowned Olympic champions in Paris, donned golden helmets and were over half a second faster than the Netherlands, who took silver.

Australia collected the bronze medal at the event in Ballerup, Denmark.

“It feels really, really special because 2008 is such a long time ago,” said 31-year-old Marchant.

“It has been a long time coming but we have put the graft in. It has been an incredible season, but to finish with gold today is great.

“What we did in Paris was so, so special. We craved that feeling again. This feels different but it’s as special in a different way.

“Personally, this felt harder than winning the Olympic gold because of the high we’d had from the Games – to get back into training, get into the headspace and get prepared after an exhausting year.”

Britain’s Joe Truman, Marcus Hiley and Harry Ledingham-Horn lost out to Japan in the bronze medal race of the men’s team sprint.

Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland delivered a sixth gold in seven years for the Netherlands, who arrived at these championships as defending Olympic and world champions and were too strong for silver medallists Australia.