The trio of Riley Faulkner (Invercargill), Jodie Blackwood (Cambridge) and Caitlin Kelly (Invercargill) set a New Zealand record on their way to the silver medal in a strong showing in the new velodrome in one of China’s oldest cities.
The New Zealanders qualified second-fastest, setting a national record of 49.959sec, with the hosts setting a world record to be top qualifiers.
The Kiwis were too strong for Chinese Taipei in the first round, lowering their national record to 49.605sec to qualify for the finals against the hosts.
They recovered from a pulled foot out of the pedals in the final to clock 50.851sec, with China taking the gold medal and New Zealand the silver to make an outstanding start to the week-long championships.
It was a second medal for Kelly, who gained New Zealand’s only podium placing in last year’s junior world championships.
The New Zealand men’s team pursuit finished seventh in the 4000m timed test.
The quartet of Magnus Jamieson, Daniel Morton, Lucas Bhimy and Matthew Davidson were sixth-fastest in qualifying in 4min 4.64sec, and lowered this to 4min 3.957sec in round one but were beaten by China after matching their opponents through 3000m.
Earlier, Canterbury’s Meghan Baker placed seventh in the 30-lap scratch race, after winning her qualifying race earlier in the day.
