Reade will go for gold in Beijing

Great Britain's Shanaze Reade struck gold at the BMX World Championships in Taiyuan, China to secure her place at the Olympics this summer.

The 19-year-old from Crewe, who was defending the title she won last year in her first season as a senior, is now favourite to win gold in Beijing.

Reade, a two-time world champion on the track in the team sprint, will compete solely in the BMX discipline in August.

The win is Reade's fifth successive BMX world crown at junior and senior level.

It was a comfortable victory for Reade, who, after hitting the first set of ramps, opened up a gap on her opposition of nearly 15 bike lengths to take control of the race from the front.

It's definitely a bad psychological blow for the opposition GB BMX coach Craig White

Britain's BMX coach Craig White told the Guardian: "Even before this weekend people were saying she would go to Beijing as the favourite, but after this she is in a class of her own.

"The form is there and this is a good position to be in. It's definitely a bad psychological blow for the opposition. She didn't pedal the last straight and still had a second's lead."

In the men's competition, Britain's Kelvin Batey went out in the quarters, with Latvia's Maris Strombergs taking the crown ahead of American Steven Cisar and South African Sifiso Nhlapo.