Her team mate Annette Edmondson was also a winner in the women's omnium, while the hosts France continued their successful championships with two further golds in the Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

Olympic women's sprint champion Meares was without a world title since 2012, having taken break after the London 2012 Olympics, but she had showed signs of getting back to her best after earning a silver and a bronze medal earlier in the Championships.

After winning her first round and semi-final races in the women's keirin, the prospect of surpassing Frenchwoman Félicia Ballanger's 10 world titles appeared all the more likely.

The Australian, who won her first world title back in 2004, duly delivered earning the keirin title ahead of The Netherlands' Shanne Braspennincx and Cuba's Lisandra Guerra, who earned the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Edmondson, meanwhile, clinched her second gold of the World Championships as she backed up winning in the women's team pursuit by taking the world title in the omnium.

She began the second day of competition in second place behind Kirsten Wild of The Netherlands but wins in the 500m time trial and the flying lap catapulted her into the lead in the overall standings.

Annette Edmondson earned her second gold after winning the women's omnium ©Getty Images



She maintained her advantage throughout the points race to seal the world title, while British Olympic champion Laura Trott held off Wild to earn her second silver medal of the Championships.

Despite Australia's success they would finish second on the medals table after France secured their fourth and fifth golds of the World Championships.

The home crowd witnessed Grégory Baugé progress to the men's sprint gold medal ride, after winning in an all French quarter-final and semi-final, firstly ending François Pervis' hopes of retaining his 2014 crown, before overcoming Quentin Lafargue in straight rides.

Baugé repeated the feat in the final defeating Russia's Denis Dmitriev, while Lafargue bounced back from his semi-final defeat to beat The Netherlands' Jeffrey Hooglan for bronze.

France tasted further success in the men's madison, the only event of the World Championships that does not feature of the women's programme, with Bryan Coquard and Morgan Kneisky taking gold for the hosts.

Bryan Coquard and Morgan Kneisky delighted the home crowd by winning a dramatic omnium ©AFP/Getty Images



The early leaders were the British pairing of Owain Doull and Mark Christian after they gained a lap on the field, but after fading in the later stages they could only manage a sixth placed finish, meaning that for the first time since 2001 Britain had failed to win a gold medal at the World Championships.

With the field back together, France and Italy were going head to head for points in the sprints, but the home favourites prevailed with their 21 points narrowly seeing Coquard and Kneisky claim gold ahead of Elia Viviani and Liam Bertazzo who ended on 20 points.

The fight for bronze was equally close, with Belgium's pairing of Jasper de Buyst and Otto Vergaerde taking the medal on countback after finishing level with Spain on 15 points.

Next year's Track Cycling World Championships will be held at the Lee Valley Velopark in London from March 2 to 6, with the competition at the 2012 Olympic Velodrome set to provide an indicator of the cyclists' form ahead of the Rio 2016 Games.

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