CYCLING star Jessica Varnish helped ease the pain of her Olympic heartbreak by roaring to gold in the team sprint at the World Cup in Columbia.

The Finstall flyer, competing for the first time since London 2012 ended in disqualification, cruised to victory alongside Becky James in Cali.

The pair, reunited following Victoria Pendleton’s retirement from the sport, qualified fastest in a time of 33.466 at the Alcides Nieto Patiño velodrome before overcoming Japan in the gold medal final.

In a switch from her usual role, Varnish rode the anchor lap with James leading off on lap one.

Their qualifying time was a whole one and a half second ahead of the second best Japanese team and though they went slightly slower in the final, clocking 33.374, it was still a comfortable win.

Varnish then picked up her second medal in as many days with bronze in the individual sprint.

After qualifying third quickest, Varnish saw off France’s Virginie Cueff in the quarter-finals.

But she was unable to find a way past Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee in the semi-finals, as she was beaten in two heats.

Varnish bounced back to beat Spain’s Casa Roige in the bronze medal final, while Lee went on to claim the overall victory by beating James to gold.

She then completed the tournament with her third day of racing in the Women’s Keirin. She started by winning he first heat and booked a place in the final with with runner-up in the second race.

However, the final proved to be a race too far as Juliana Gaviria of Columbia won from Luz Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez of Mexico and Virginie in third, as Varnish finished fifth.