New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews settled for silver in her first UCI World Cup outing in Perth.
In a low-key start to the racing season for the Olympic Games champion, Andrews pushed through qualifying in the individual sprint as the fourth fastest in 10.548s,
Andrews won her opening round before accounting for five-time world champion Pauline Sophie Grabosch (Germany) in the quarterfinals in two straight rides.
The kiwi rider followed with an excellent effort to beat top qualifier Mina Sato (Japan) also in two rides in the semifinal but fell just short in the best of three final against exciting young Chinese prospect, Liying Yuan in two close races in the final.
Earlier teammate Olivia King qualified ninth but was eliminated in the first round.
The sprinters move on to the keirin on the final day of competition on Sunday.
Sprint results - Qualifying: Mina Sato (JPN) 10.329, 1; Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER) 10.458, 2; Liying Yuan (CHN) 10.521, 3; Ellesse Andrews (NZL) 10.548, 4; Olivia King (NZL) 10.918, 9.
First round: Andrews bt Nurul Mohd Asri (MAL), Alessia McCaig (AUS) bt King. (0.040)
Quarterfinals: Sato bt McCaig 2-1, Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER) bt Veronica Jabornikova (CZE) 2-0, Yuan bt Alina Lysenko (AIN) 2-0; Andrews (NZL) bt Pauline Sophie Grabosch (GER) 2-0.
Semifinals: Andrews bt Sato 2-0; Yuan bt Friedrich 2-0.
Final: Yuan bt Andrews 2-0.
