Their efforts yesterday brought the New Zealand team’s tally in Santiago to five medals, a total that has only been bettered once, at the Glasgow Super Worlds two years ago.
Botha won the bronze medal after leading into the final lap of the women’s 25km points race.
Mexican rider Yareli Acevedo Mendoza completed a remarkable solo effort to lap the field.
The 20 bonus points was sufficient for Mendoza to emerge as the winner, while Great Britain’s Anna Morris dug deep to win the double-point last sprint to edge Botha for silver.
Botha earned her sixth world championship medal with bronze on the back of putting two laps on the field and picking up points on four of the 10 sprints.
"I went in with full intent and tried to go with every move, which seemed to work well in my favour," Botha said.
"I was seeing a bit red over the last 20 laps and tried to survive.
"I actually came off the track thinking I was fourth or fifth but my coach told me I was third. I started crying — I couldn’t believe it."
The men’s elimination, where the last rider is eliminated every second lap, proved an exciting affair.
Stewart managed to elude the dangers in a packed first half of the race before moving forward as the field reduced in size.
He was in commanding form as he dispatched Dutch rider Yoeri Havik to set up a final sprint against multiple world champion Elia Viviani.
The Italian, a double world championship gold medallist and the Rio Olympic gold medallist, was looking for a golden end in his final ride before retirement.
He edged the Kiwi in a fierce final battle for the gold medal.
Stewart secured the silver for his seventh world championship medal, dating back to 2019, in Poland, where he and Botha both secured their first world championship medals.
"It was dicey out there at times but after the omnium yesterday, I learned a few things," Stewart said.
"I managed to ride the bubbles and push at the right times.
"In the end, I probably gave Viviani the perfect retirement gift. It was close and I gave it my all but couldn’t quite get there."
Earlier, Ellesse Andrews was blocked and edged out in the semifinals of the women’s keirin competition, finishing 11th in the ride-off.
The competition concluded with the arduous 50km two-rider madison, the New Zealand pairing of Tom Sexton and Keegan Hornblow impressing with sixth place in a race won by Belgium.
Cycling New Zealand high performance director Ryan Hollows said the team had ticked the boxes in the world championship campaign.
"This year we had a focus on development and looking ahead... we also tried some different approaches," Hollows said.
"We’ve seen new riders like Marshall Erwood, Ben Oliver and Prue Fowler impress at their first world championships and add to our depth.
"We believe we have ticked the boxes for what we had planned to achieve this year.
"We can now prepare to turn up the heat as we look ahead to the Commonwealth Games next year and build ultimately to the Los Angeles Olympics."
— Allied Media
