Emily Petricola has won Australia's second gold medal at the world cycling championships in Glasgow, defending her title in the C4 Individual pursuit.

The Olympic champion and world record holder Petricola easily pulled away from Canada's Keely Shaw in the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome to win her third rainbow jersey in the event and her ninth world title in total.

"It felt better than I expected," the para-cyclist said.

Now 43, the former Melbourne schoolteacher was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 27. In 2015, encouraged by former Olympic rower Matt Ryan, she took up cycling and, after working with ex-Olympic cyclist Shane Kelly, was competing, and winning silver and bronze, at the world championships three years later.

Honoured in 2022 with the Order of Australia medal she has to deal with constant fatigue, overheating, tremors in her arms and legs, foot drop on the left side, tingling and nerve pain in her limbs, and hands that don't work properly.

Before heading back to Australian Cycling Team headquarters in Adelaide, Petricola will be heading outside the velodrome for the time trial, which she won in 2019, and in which she picked up silver last year.

Petricola's success follows victory for Amanda Reid in the C2 500 metres time trial on Sunday.

In the BMX freestyle competition there was a silver medal for Olympic champion Logan Martin behind Britain's Kieran Reilly.

Rather than being disappointed the Queenslander saw a silver lining given the rising level of competition.