By Scott Dougal, PA International

Sarah Ulmer of New Zealand successfully defended her Commonwealth women's 3,000m individual pursuit title with a new Games record at the Manchester velodrome.

The Kiwi bettered Australia's Katherine Bates, who had to settle for silver.

England's Emma Davies lost the bronze final to Alison Wright of Australia.

Ulmer credited compatriot Greg Henderson with giving her the inspiration to set a Commonwealth record.

Henderson had earlier become the first Kiwi to win a track gold at the Commonwealth Games, watched by Ulmer and her cheering team-mates.

"I had goose bumps after he won - it was awesome," she said.

"Our cycling team's quite a close unit, so when someone does well it gives you a real boost."

Ulmer bettered Australian Katherine Bates in the final but it needed a record-breaking time to do it.

The 26-year-old had already set a new mark in qualifying yesterday, completing the 12 laps in three minutes, 32.504 seconds.

And she outdid herself tonight, finishing in 3mins 32.467secs.

England's Emma Davies lost out in the bronze final to Alison Wright, dropping over a second behind the Australian.

Davies impressed in her semi-final after completing the 12 laps in 3:39.282 - bettering Canada's Clara Hughes who won gold medal in the road time-trial.

Alsager's Sara Symington improved on her disappointing showing in the qualifying but it was not enough to earn the Venezuela-born Englishwoman a place in the last four.

"It was better than my first one," she said. "I felt a bit blocked up yesterday but I get better the longer the competition goes on."