It was gold for Great Britain Cycling Team’s Elinor Barker in the points race on the final day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin.
The race started relatively quietly for Barker, who collected some points from the early sprints and took a lap with a group of riders, including the medal favourites. However, it was a late solo attack which saw Barker gain an additional lap, leaving no time for her rivals to catch her, which meant she finished the race on 50 points while rivals Jennifer Valente of USA finished second with 34 points and Norway’s Anita Stenberg in third with 33 points.
Speaking of her world championship title, Barker said: ““It always feels pretty good to be honest. It’s not irrelevant that it’s not an Olympic event, but it doesn’t make it feel any less incredible. I knew that I had good legs yesterday (in the Madison), so I’m glad that I was able to prove that today.”
In the women’s keirin event, Katy Marchant reached the semi-finals without incident, winning her first-round heat and coming third in the quarter-final heat. A photo finish determined Marchant to cross the line in fourth during the semi-finals, meaning she narrowly missed out on a spot in the finals, finishing in eighth overall.
In the men’s Madison event the pairing of Ollie Wood and Ethan Hayter finished in ninth place.
Barker’s gold medal brought the Great Britain Cycling Team’s medal count up to one gold, two silver and one bronze at an event where taking final key learning opportunities that will lead to Olympic strategy refinements ahead of Tokyo 2020 formed the team’s key objectives.
