Great Britain’s sprinters registered two fourth-place finishes at the latest round of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Brisbane, Australia, over the weekend.
The men’s team sprint squad were beaten in the bronze medal ride-off by New Zealand, while Jack Carlin was fourth in the men’s keirin in what was the team’s last major competition of 2019.
The team sprint trio (Carlin, Joe Truman and Phil Hindes) were seventh in qualifying, and when Ryan Owens replaced Hindes in the line-up for the first round, they recorded a time of 43.404 to see them through to the medal rides. There though, they were edged out by New Zealand and had to settle for fourth.
It was a similar story for Carlin in the keirin – he finished second in both his first round and semi-final, but was just out of the medals in the final. Among those to make it on to the podium was Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer, who continues to inspire in the face of his recent cancer diagnosis.
Carlin was back in action in the sprint, along with Truman, but both Britons saw their campaign ended by the eventual winner, Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk. He beat Carlin in the 1/8 finals and Truman in the quarter-finals on his way to gold.
Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell contested the women’s events, with Marchant making the quarter-finals of the women’s sprint, where she lost to Colombia’s Martha Pineda Bayona. Both Britons were knocked out in the keirin repechage.
Host nation Australia was able to celebrate double Madison gold, with the pairings of Georgia Baker and Annette Edmondson and Sam Welsford and Cameron Meyer winning their respective events. Jennifer Valente (USA) and Aaron Gate (New Zealand) were omnium winners, while the team pursuit events were both won by Australia.
The Australian women recorded a 41:12.889 in their first round, while the men’s first round saw New Zealand clock 3:48.244 and Australia 3:48.282. British trade team HUUB Wattbike stopped the clock at 3:52.579 to secure a fifth-place finish.