By ADAM McFADDEN

Sports Writer

You might have missed the memo, but Kirkland is home to a world champion.

Track cyclist Jennie Reed can now say something not many can: She is the best in the world at her sport.

Reed grew up with her family in Kirkland and attended Issaquah High School. She got into competitive biking when she was 16 on the urging of her sister and father. Now, 14 years later, she’s finally reached the pinnacle of track cycling.

Reed won her first world championship in Keirin on March 30 at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, England. Keirin is a 2,000-meter sprint on a wooden track, contested among six to nine riders.

Reed also took the bronze medal in the sprint at the competition. The sprint race is 750 meter-long one-on-one battle. She called her first world title “something I’ve dreamed of my whole career.”

Reed beat out several top contenders in Manchester, including Clara Sanchez (France), a two-time world champion, Christin Muche (Germany) , who won a 2006 world championship, and Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain), who took gold in the sprint event the day before the Keirin race.

Now 30, 2008 has ranked as the best year of a good career for Reed, partly because of her world championship and partly because she’s set to ride in her second summer Olympics.

Track cycling is different from most Olympic events because not every country is guaranteed a spot in the races. A rider must rank in the top 10 in the world to earn their country an entry. Then, once a nation has an entry, a rider must prove he or she is the best in that country.

Olympic hopefuls accrue points through a series of international races, with the “world’s top 10” designated through these competitions. Largely due to a strong early season and the win in Manchester, Reed tops the points list and will compete in the sprint event in this summer’s Olympics in Beijing, China.

Reed said her approach has changed since her first Olympic appearance in Athens. In 2004, she said she was excited simply to be a part of the event.

“Really, that year was more about qualification than performing. It was a big challenge just to qualify,” Reed said. “I wanted to do the best I could, obviously, but I wouldn’t say I was a medal contender … This time around, I have that behind me.”

In Beijing, Reed plans on harnessing her earlier experience and using it to her advantage.

“You can go to 10 world championships, but the Olympics is completely different,” she said. “I’ll go in a lot more equipped this time.”

The Keirin is Reed’s favorite, and best, event. And, although it won’t be an event at this summer’s Olympics, Reed said the talk is it could show up in 2012 in London. In the sport of velodrome bike racing, the “Keirin” pits six or more racers against each other at one time (compared to the traditional number of two in the “sprint”). This can make for quite a tight, and exciting, race on a seven-meter wide track.

Reed said the Keirin “just suits (her) natural style more” because she rides “more instinctively and aggressively.”

“It’s basically a mad sprint at the end,” Reed said. “It’s all about trying to read the race. People are going for it. You fight for position off the line and it’s a little bit of a build up to the sprint.”

The “Sprint” race has a much different style, Reed said, because it’s all about using a strong acceleration to gain an edge over the other riders.

“It’s a cat and mouse game,” she said. “There’s a bit more acceleration than the Keirin.”

As expected, track cycling — a sport that involves jostling for position on a slanted wooden track at speeds that top out around 70 kilometers — does have its dangers. Fortunately, Reed has yet to seriously injure herself in a fall, but she does remember a few that hurt more than most.

“You get really big splinters,” Reed said. “You have to pluck them out for a few hours.”

While her family still lives in Kirkland, Reed currently lives in Long Beach, Calif., where her full-time job is training. With the financial backing of “strong” sponsors, Reed trains anywhere from six to eight hours a day.

And when the Olympics are over? Well, Reed said she isn’t looking that far ahead.

“At the moment, I’m just going through the games then I’ll take a bit of a break,” Reed said. “Then just see how I feel. With winning the world championships this year, it definitely got me excited. I’ve had the best season of my career, and I’ve enjoyed it more than ever.”

When Reed does finally hang up the pedals, she plans to move back to the Seattle area and finish her education at the University of Washington.

Her Olympic quest begins Aug. 15.

“I don’t think you ever go into a competition without thinking you can win,” Reed said. “It’s going to be close. There will be a lot of photo finishes. It’s going to be about staying in the moment and taking each race one at a time.”

Reed’s resume:

– Won her first national titles in 1994 in the 2 km pursuit and matched sprints at the U.S. Junior Track National Championships held at the Marymoor Velodrome

– 2005 National Champion in the Sprint, 500 meters and Keirin

– 2006 National Champion in the Spring, 500 meters, Keirin and Team Sprint

– 2007 Pan American Cycling Champion in the Keirin

– 2007 National Champion in the Keirin, Sprint and Team Pursuit

THE OLYMPICS

The Summer Olympics start Aug. 8 in Beijing, China. Reed’s track cycling events take place Aug. 15-19.