Great Britain’s Joanna Rowsell came close to a second medal at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the individual pursuit on Friday.
The 26-year-old defending champion, who won silver on Thursday in the team pursuit, put in a resilient performance against Amy Cure in the bronze-medal final but could not reverse the result from qualifying when the Australian was third and Rowsell fourth.
Cure stopped the clock in 3:32.907 with Rowsell’s time 3:36.33 at the French national velodrome in Paris.
Rowsell, champion in Colombia 12 months ago, said: "You're never really going to be happy with fourth, but you can see that across the board everyone has stepped up.
"Everyone was down about yesterday (after the team pursuit defeat), but I came out today and I was determined to fight.
"Fourth in the world isn't bad. I can't complain really. It shows what a good achievement it was winning those two golds last year.
"Last year I was absolutely flying and it went perfectly. This year has been a real battle."
Katie Archibald clocked 3:31.276 for fifth to narrowly miss out on a medal ride as Australia’s Rebecca Wiasak took gold and American Jennifer Valente silver.
Jess Varnish showed her credentials with the scalp of Australian Olympic champion Anna Meares in the last 16 of the women’s sprint.
Varnish then met Commonwealth Games champion Stephanie Morton in the quarter-finals and despite a brave battle bowed out by two heats to nil with semi-finals on Saturday.
A personal best time of 10.804 seconds in qualifying will also give the 24-year-old encouragement.
Victoria Williamson qualified in 11th and saw off the challenge of Monique Sullivan of Canada before exiting in the 1/8 finals to Elis Lightlee and missing out in the subsequent repechage.
"Don't get me wrong, you go out there and you want to be on the podium, but that's the best I've finished all year," Varnish said.
"To beat the Olympic champion, I've never beaten (her) before, so I feel like I'm going in the right direction.
"I was fourth last year and I really think this year is another level."
Jon Dibben started his omnium with an excellent second in the scratch race to Italian Elia Viviani.
But 15th in the individual pursuit, where the 21-year-old set a time of 4:29.845, and 17th in the elimination race saw him drop down to 11th overall.
With 36 points to the medal positions, Dibben will need a strong final three events on Saturday if he is to challenge for the podium.
Callum Skinner and Kian Emadi rode the kilo as the latter returned from a five-month absence due to a back injury.
Skinner, who was part of the British trio that was eighth in the team sprint on Wednesday, was seventh with a time of 1:01.071 as Emadi completed the four laps in 1:01.736, enough for 12th.
France’s Francois Pervis won in 1:00.207 to claim a second rainbow jersey of the competition to the delight of the home support.
Britain's Mark Christian was 17th in the men’s points race, collecting three points as Russian Artur Ershov won the world title.
Saturday sees Jason Kenny start his sprint competition. Laura Trott will begin her omnium as Jon Dibben concludes his.
Andy Tennant rides in the men's individual pursuit and Elinor Barker in the women's scratch race.
Results
Women's individual pursuit qualifying
Women's individual pursuit finals
Women's sprint qualifying
Women's sprint 1/16 finals
Women's sprint 1/8 finals
Women's sprint 1/4 finals
Men's omnium - scratch race
Men's omnium - individual pursuit
Men's omnium - elimination race
Men's points race
Men's kilo
