News: Gold for GB at European Champs

There were two gold medals and a bronze for the Great Britain Cycling Team’s track riders on the second day of competition at the UEC European Track Championships in Plovdiv

News: Gold for GB at European Champs

It was two gold medals and one bronze for the Great Britain Cycling Team’s track riders on the second day of competition at the UEC European Track Championships in Plovdiv today.

The women’s team pursuit squad comprising of Katie Archibald, Neah Evans, Laura Kenny and Josie Knight took a convincing win in a brilliant time of 4:10.437, over three seconds faster than the Italian team who had to settle for silver. The quartet took to the podium to collect the gold medal along with Elinor Barker, who rode in the qualifying and first round events yesterday.

Laura Kenny said: “That’s the fastest time we’ve done since Rio, so that shows the form that we were in going into an Olympic year. It’s good to know we are still moving forward, Josie (Knight) is here for her first European competition and that shows the way British Cycling moves forward too. I personally think we’ve got a lot more to come, we’ve got people sat at home itching to get into this team and that can only help us move forward.”

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It was Elinor Barker’s second visit to the podium for the evening, as she also collected the gold medal in the women’s elimination race, replicating the success of Matt Wall’s in the men’s race last night.

Speaking after collecting her elimination race medal, Barker said of her result: “I’m really happy with it. It went how I hoped it to, I expected it might be me and (Rachele) Barbieri the Italian rider at the end, and that went how I hoped it would. I rode it how I talked it through with my roommate Laura Kenny earlier today… and yeh, it worked!”

In the men’s endurance events, Ollie Wood won a medal for the Great Britain Cycling Team this evening, taking bronze in the men’s scratch race. Portugal’s Iuri Leitao took the win.

The women’s sprinters were also in action on day 2, with both Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant exiting the sprint event after the quarter finals.

The racing resumes on day 3 with the Great Britain Cycling Team riders competing in the women’s individual pursuit, the women’s omnium and the men’s omnium.