KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - New Zealand cyclist Hayden Roulston is guaranteed an Olympic silver medal after qualifying second fastest in the men's 4000m individual pursuit here today.
Roulston will ride for gold just before 11pm (NZT) in a daunting assignment against the warm favourite Bradley Wiggins, of Britain, who was top qualifier in a time of four minutes 16.571 seconds.
The Ashburton cyclist, 27, demolished Taylor Phinney of the United States in the first round by more than seven seconds, recording a time of 4min 19.232sec.
His time at the Laoshan Velodrome was more than two seconds ahead of third fastest qualifier Steve Burke of Britain.
It was marginally slower than Roulston rode last night in the qualification rounds.
Meanwhile, Roulston's teammate Alison Shanks will ride for bronze tomorrow in the women's 3000m individual pursuit against Lesya Kalitovska of Ukraine after winning her first round contest tonight.
Dunedin cyclist Shanks, 25, was too good for Sarah Hammer of the United States in a time of 3min 32.478sec.
That ranked her fourth fastest behind British pair Rebecca Romero and Wendy Houvenaghel, and Kalitovska who was 0.69 quicker than Shanks.
- NZPA
