CYCLING -31/10/2009
Houvenaghel unhappy
The 34-year old claimed Olympic silver for the individual pursuit in Beijing last year and admitted she was desperate to upgrade to gold in London.
But proposed changes to the Olympic schedule would remove the event altogether, with the Brit having to focus on team pursuit instead.
And despite being team pursuit world champion with Lizzie Armitstead and Joanna Roswell, Houvenaghel was adamant she wouldn't be able to settle into a consistent training routine until the situation was resolved.
"It's quite devastating because the individual pursuit is something I've specialised in for the last three and a half years," said Houvenaghel. "I was very much looking forwards to continuing with it and taking it the whole way to London.
"The news of the proposed changes only broke a few weeks ago and my training schedule has been a bit up in the air until the proposals are ratified.
"I think the training and preparation for the individual pursuit is slightly different from the team pursuit. Both complement each other to an extent, but I feel like to get the most out of myself I need to focus on one of them."
The result in Manchester never looked in doubt for the Brit who stretched a four second lead over Australia's Josephine Tomic at the 2000m mark before eventually finishing in 3.31.929 minutes.
In a dramatic bronze medal race, Dutch rider Vera Koedooder came from behind to defeat Spain's Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro and claim the final podium place.
Meanwhile, there will definitely be a British one-two in the men's sprint after Sir Chris Hoy and Matt Crampton booked their places in this evening's final.
Hoy barely broke sweat as he swept past Australia's Shane Perkins in two races, finishing in 10.313 seconds and 10.523 secs.
Manchester-based Crampton needed all three races against Olympic silver medallist Jason Kenny but came from behind in a dramatic decider to set-up a final clash with the Olympic champion.