The 2008 Omnium world champion Hayden Godfrey will race-off against Myron Simpson for the final place in the New Zealand squad for this month's track cycling world championships.

Godfrey missed the national championships after being hit by a car.

National coach Tim Carswell says the pair will square-off in a shortened version of the Omnium.

"They'll be doing the three timed events. So the 200 metre time trial, the individual pursuit and the kilometre time trial. Bit hard to replicate the scratch races in a trial situation."

National track coach Tim Carswell concedes it is not the ideal scenario for Godfrey.

"Really we didn't have any other choice because of just a lack of information about where he's at in terms of his fitness, that's why we had Myron on standby.

The coach says it is also not the ideal time for a trial, with the world championships in less than a fortnight in Copenhagen.