COPENHAGEN, Sept 29: Australian veteran Sean Eadie won the world sprint title at the world track cycling championships here Sunday after beating compatriot Jobie Dajka in a third leg decider.

It is Australia’s first medal in track cycling’s main event since Darryn Hill won the sprint title in Bogota in 1995.

France, who won all three medals last year, took the bronze when Florian Rousseau held off his compatriot and the reigning champion Arnaud Tournant in their two-heat match.

Eadie, the 33-year-old Sydney native with the fully-grown beard, had never won a world sprint title in years of trying but has had a promising season and rejuvenated his career thanks to a new training set-up at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Adelaide.

After his victory, he hopped on his bike to warm down - then promptly downed a beer before going on to accept his medal.

Dajka, who won the world keirin title on the first day of the championships, had won the first heat of the all-Australian final after sneaking up on Eadie in the final straight of the three-lap event to win by a centimetre in a time of 10.787, the result so close it required a photo finish.

However Eadie, who sat near the top of the track quietly praying to himself prior to the second heat, came fighting back to force a third leg decider.— AFP