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Day two of the Track World Cup in Cali saw Becky James and Jess Varnish picking up silver and bronze respectively in the Sprint, but a crash took Kian Emadi out of the Keirin in the first round.
In the Women's Sprint gold medal final, James was up against Wai Sze Lee and lost out by the narrowest of margins in the third heat, after winning the second to get back into the competition.
James led out her rival from about 300m to go and seemed to have held her off through the final bend only to tie up an be caught right on the line. The result went to the photo finish judges, but Lee took it. Varnish won her Bronze medal final in straight heats against Casa Roige of Spain.
Earlier, James was quickest in the 200m Qualification time trial, clocking 11.135s, one thousandth clear of Lee, with Varnish close behind on 11.144.
Right: Varnish gets a post-race massage
In the quarter-finals, James saw off experienced Cuban Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez in two heats, with Varnish similarly successful against France’s Virginie Cueff.
Varnish was unable to find a way past Lee in her semi-final, whilst James defeated Casas Roige of Spain, both being settle in two straight heats.
After the day’s racing, Becky James tweeted “Solid day of racing on the track today! Qual'd fastest and made it to the final of the sprint but just missed out on gold! Always hurts that little bit more when the final ride goes to 3.”
Immediately after James’ defeat in the last heat of the final, her coach Iain Dyer tweeted “sooo close! Loses in a foto finish. Great riding today from both girls.”
There was less good news for the GB contingent in the Keirin, where Kian Emadi came unstuck in his first heat, where a move by the Italian Davide Ceci brought three riders down. Emadi wasn’t badly hurt but was withdrawn from the event as a precaution.
Iain Dyer tweeted “Ouch! Kian goes down pretty hard in the Keirin but he's ok. Smashed helmet, ripped pedal apart, but he walked away from it! Italian relegated for moving into sprinters lane when Kian was already there. We've withdrawn @kianemadi from the rest of the keirin as a precaution. He's on rollers now going easy. Hopefully bk to full strength tmw!”
Right: Kian Emadi relaxes after his crash
Kian himself was phlegmatic after the crash, reporting “Thanks everyone for the well wishes and messages of support. Not sure which was more painful; the kilo, or the keirin crash!”
Riding for Team SWI Welsh Cycling Elinor Barker was in action on the first day of the Women's Omnium. she finished the day ninth, her best ride a fourth place in the Points race. However, team-mate Jon Mould had to withdraw from the Men's Omnium at the start of the second day due to illness.
