Australian cyclist Anna Meares added an Olympic bronze to her gold medal when she finished third in the women's sprint.

Meares beat Russian Svetlana Grankovskaya 2-0 in their best of three races contest for the bronze medal, in a reversal of the result of this year's world championship final.

The 500m time trial gold medallist outsprinted the Russian in both races and held her out in the home straight.

Meares had looked set to chase her second gold when she won the first of her three semi-final races against Canadian Lori-Ann Meunzer but was outsmarted in the other two to lose 2-1.

The 20-year-old Queenslander used the same tactics in the first race against Muenzer before taking the lead at the bell and holding her off in the sprint home.

But Muenzer, 18 years Meares' senior, took her by surprise with a lap to go in the second to force the decider in which she again stayed in front and easily beat the Australian.

Muenzer won the gold medal race against another Russian, Tamilla Abassova.

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