Great Britain’s women’s team pursuit squad took to the podium on the second day of competition at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin, winning the silver medal.
Following on from posting the second fastest time in qualifying yesterday, Laura Kenny replaced Neah Evans to join Ellie Dickinson, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker in the first round against Canada. Defeating their opponents in a time of 4:12.389 set up a gold medal ride-off against the USA in the final. With Evans back in the line-up replacing Kenny, the team completed the race in a time of 4:13.129 but it was the USA, who had set the fastest times throughout the competition, that were victorious in a time of 4:11.235.
Speaking after the race, Elinor Barker said: “Qualifying was really positive. It was definitely the highlight for us and the happiest I’ve felt about the team pursuit in a long time.
“It would have been nicer to go slightly faster. It hurts a little bit at the moment but it’s helpful that it gives us something to push for.”
In the men’s keirin event, Jack Carlin finished in fourth place having seamlessly made it into the finals. Team-mate Jason Kenny took a route via the repechage to make it to the semi-finals, where he found himself boxed in and crossing the line in fourth place which meant he was into the minor final, where he finished the competition in eighth place overall.
It was also fourth place for Matt Walls in the scratch race and he will now carry the confidence of his form through to the omnium event which he will compete in on Saturday.
Both Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell set personal best times in their sprint qualifying event, safely making it into the 1/16th finals. Capewell lost to the Japanese rider Yuka Kobayashi, while Marchant beat the Russian rider Daria Shmeleva to progress to the 1/8ths. There, Marchant lost to the Canadian rider Kelsey Mitchell but, despite being disappointed not to make it any further in the competition, the combined results of Marchant and Capewell secured Great Britain a place in both the sprint and keirin events at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer.
