News: Gold for Marchant at World Cup

GB’s Katy Marchant won Keirin gold on Saturday at the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow.

News: Gold for Marchant at World Cup

Katy Marchant won keirin gold for Great Britain on day two of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow, today.

Marchant looked in excellent form all day, dominating her first round before fighting her way out of a tight position to secure the top three finish needed to advance from the semi-final.

In the final, she made her move at the perfect time, moving up through the field in the penultimate lap, before contesting the sprint with Emma Hinze. A photo finish was needed to split them, but Marchant edged out the German to claim a hugely popular victory in front of a vocal home crowd.

Afterwards, Marchant said: “It was brilliant to ride. It was hard work, but it was worth fighting for, and I’m so happy to come away with the win, especially in front of a home crowd. I knew I was in good shape coming into the Europeans and the first few World Cups of the season, and it’s been a bit frustrating to be so close in so many places and not been able to finish it off, so I’m pretty ecstatic to finish it off here.”

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Great Britain also medalled in the men’s Madison, as Ollie Wood and Ethan Hayter claimed silver. In what was a frantic race from the off, the British duo put themselves in the mix by gaining two laps, working well on each occasion with the French pairing of Benjamin Thomas and Donovan Vincent Grondin.

Two crashes in quick succession split an already chaotic race further, but as the pace calmed slightly, Great Britain found themselves down in fifth position with the laps beginning to run out. They countered brilliantly, taking a third lap – and therefore another 20 points – with 15 laps remaining.

This propelled them up into the medal positions, and – with France’s lead at the top unassailable – Wood and Hayter cemented their silver medal by claiming six points on the final sprint, finishing on 86, ten points behind the French and two ahead of Sam Welsford and Leigh Howard, who won bronze for Australia.

Elsewhere, Neah Evans finished eighth in the women’s omnium. The Scot suffered a disappointing start, finishing 15th in the scratch race. However, a well-executed performance in the tempo race gave her maximum points and saw her climb to eighth at the halfway stage.

She improved on that position again with a sixth-placed finish in the elimination race, however an early crash in the points put paid to her medal hopes, as other riders were quick to gain an advantage as Evans fought her way back into the race. She eventually finished with a total of 84 points, while the event was won by the Netherlands’ Kirsten Wild, with 121.

Elinor Barker finished in 12th place in the women’s scratch race, after trying in vain to chase down a group of three riders who had stolen a march on the field during the middle section of the race. Barker – wearing the rainbow bands – did more than her share of work in trying to reel the trio in, but their advantage held, and Poland’s Karolina Karasiewicz took gold ahead of Anastasia Chulkova and Diana Klimova.

Wales’ Manon Lloyd finished impressively to claim fourth.

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In the men’s sprint event, Jason Kenny’s competition was ended by world champion and eventual winner Harrie Lavreysen at the quarter-final stage, while Ryan Owens lost out to Juan Peralta Gascon in the 1/16 finals.

Marchant’s gold and Wood and Hayter’s silver add to the women’s team pursuit gold and men’s team sprint silver that Great Britain picked up on day one.

Competition concludes tomorrow, when Katie Archibald and Barker will form the British team in the women’s Madison, Mark Stewart tackles the men’s omnium, Wood contests the men’s scratch race and the women’s sprint and men’s keirin titles are awarded, with Olympic champion Kenny competing in the keirin and Marchant and Sophie Capewell taking part in the sprint.