Defending champion Jess Varnish won her second national title at the 2014 British Cycling National Track Championships on Friday evening, taking victory in the women’s individual sprint and retaining her title for a further 12 months.
Varnish, riding for Team V-Sprint Racing, took the title ahead of Katy Marchant with Vicky Williamson settling for bronze.
Varnish qualified in third place in the flying 200m time trial at the start of the day but showed her strength as she proceeded through the rounds with relative ease.
In the first heat of the gold medal final, Varnish took the first win comfortably. In the second ride, Marchant led out but Varnish showed that she was in no mood to lose her national title coming under Marchant on the back straight and remaining in the lead all the way to the finish line.
“I’m really really happy with today and just pleased to get a good result in the sprint. Varnish said
“It’s good I retained it but it’s not something which crossed my mind although I’m happy to have backed it up two years running. It’s the team sprint tomorrow which will be good and hopefully we will be quite a strong team.”
In the bronze medal ride Dannielle Khan faced Victoria Williamson. Willamson took the first ride comfortably leaving her with just one more race to win to secure the bronze medal.
In the second ride Khan led out early, clearly knowing she needed to take it to a decider. Williamson accelerated hard down the back straight on the final lap to pass the Sollihull rider and take the bronze medal.
In the para-cycling 200m FSTT C1-5 Lauren Booth rode an amazing ride to take the British record in a new time of 14.400 seconds. Her factored time was 12.485 which put her in the silver medal position. It was Jaco Van Gass from Team Battle Back who took the gold medal in a factored time of 12.314.
"It was a surprise to win especially with the factored events in C1-C5,” van Gass exclaimed after receiving his medal.
“Especially the C4s, there’s big factors that get put in, as a C5, I could get a few hundreds taken off but others could get a few seconds taken off, so yeah; it is a real surprise to win."
The bronze medal went to Matthew Hamilton of Lee Valley Youth CC in a factored time of 12.666.
It was current sprint world champion Sophie Thornhill (piloted by Rachel James) of Performance Cycle Coaching who took the win the para-cycling 200m FSTT BVI category ending up with a factored time of 9.822.
"It's amazing to finish off the season with a racing PB and two gold medals, you can’t ask for more than that.” Thornhill said after her race.
Her teammate Neil Fachie (piloted by Peter Mitchell) had to settle for silver with 10.149 while Laura Cluxton (piloted by Louise Haston) took bronze with a factored time of 10.394.
Last night’s kilo champion Callum Skinner was on form as he won the men’s keirin title. Lewis Oliva took an early lead with an attack over the top but Rotherham came round followed by Crampton who looked like he was going to take it to the line. That wasn't to be however as Skinner came around Crampton on the final bend to take his second win in as many days.
“I feel amazed to come away with two National titles so far and I have two more opportunities. It’s been a great start to the week and I couldn’t be happier.” Skinner said after receiving his medal.
In the Gold medal ride off of the men’s pursuit, it was Steven Burke who went off like a missile in a hope of catching Tennant but it was clear with four laps in that it wasn't going to go to plan. Burke took a big gamble and he now had to settle in for the last twelve laps.
At the halfway mark Tennant was two seconds up and it was only a matter of time before Tennant would turn the table on Burke, whose legs were clearly engulfed with lactic acid, taking the catch 10.5 laps in earning himself the national championship title.
“It was a good race against Burkey in an exciting final.” Tennant said.
“It’s not often I get to ride for myself in individual events, I’m a part of the team pursuit team and that’s more my thing and my focus tends to go into it because it’s an Olympic event. The Nationals gives you an opportunity to ride other events which you wouldn’t normally do so it was nice.”
In the battle for bronze, Mark Christian led for the first 3km but Dibben applied the gas and took the lead with just four laps remaining. The gap grew and Dibben stopped the clock in 4:26.990 just short of two and a half seconds ahead of Christian.
In the gold medal final of the women’s event between Katie Archibald and reigning champion Laura Trott, Archibald was ahead at the halfway mark by almost half a second. With two laps to go that gap had grown to over a second and it was difficult to see how Trott could turn the tables on her opponent. Archibald took the win in a time of 3:34.869, 2.425 ahead of Trott who settled for silver.
“I’m chuffed!” Archibald said after the race.
“I’m happy to back it up, it’s something I have struggled with for a lot of my racing career so to do it by half a second, it’s something I’m happy with. I asked not to be locked against Laura (wanted to forget it was her friend) so my coach was just telling me what I was doing and I wasn’t thinking about her at all, so I’m glad it worked out in the end.”
Current world champion Joanna Rowsell faced Elinor Barker for the bronze medal. Rowsell led four laps in by over 1.5 seconds, the gap grew to nearly two and a half after 2km. Rowsell eventually took the win in a time of 3:36.424 earning her the bronze medal just over five seconds ahead of her rival.
Results
Women's individual sprint
Men's keirin
Women's individual pursuit
Men's individual pursuit
Para-cycling 200m tt C1-C5 mixed
Para-cycling 200m tt BVI mixed
