News: Silver for Wright/Walls in Madison

GB’s Matthew Walls and Fred Wright claimed Madison silver to add to their team pursuit bronze medal on the second day of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in London

News: Silver for Wright/Walls in Madison

British Cycling Press Release

Matthew Walls and Fred Wright claimed Madison silver to add to their team pursuit bronze medal on the second day of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in London. The duo – aged just 20 and 19 – followed up Friday evening’s success by putting on a spectacular Madison performance, scoring in seven of the 12 sprints, including maximum points on the final sprint to ensure their place on the podium.

The British national champions ended on 30 points; 16 behind Denmark (Julius Johansen and Casper von Folsach) – who had earlier gained a lap on the field – and nine clear of the bronze medal-winning Spanish duo of Albert Torres and Sebastian Mora.
… continued after advert

Afterwards, Walls said: “It was a really hard race, and the standard of the field was mad – there were so many good riders. We went well in the team pursuit last night and came away with a bronze, so we knew we were going well going into the race, and we just had to get stuck in really. We got quite a few points at the end, so we’re really happy to come away with silver.”

Elsewhere, Jack Carlin was narrowly edged out of the medal positions in the keirin. Riding for Team Inspired, the Scot won his heat and finished second in his semi-final, but found himself boxed in during the final, and was just unable to battle back to claim a place on the podium, finishing fourth. Matthijs Buchli (Netherlands) took gold, Aziz Awang (Malaysia) the silver and Theo Bos (Netherlands) bronze. Great Britain’s Joe Truman missed out on a place in the final on a photo finish, and eventually was placed 11th.

Elinor Barker made a solid start in the women’s Omnium, but after an 11th-place finish in the Elimination race – the third of the four events – she found herself in fifth position going into the Points race. Despite a couple of brave attempts to take a lap, she was unable to improve on that placing in the final standings. The event was won in dominant fashion by world champion Kirsten Wild (Netherlands), with Jennifer Valente (USA) and Allison Beveridge (Canada) completing the podium.

In the women’s Sprint during the afternoon session, Katy Marchant advanced to the quarter-finals before being defeated by the eventual winner of the event, Australia’s Stephanie Morton, while Lauren Bate exited at the 1/16 finals stage. The action concludes today, when the men’s sprint and omnium, and women’s keirin and Madison titles are decided.