| | |
Jess Varnish kept her 100% record intact at the 2013 British Track National Championships with victory in the women’s individual sprint as Olympic champion Jason Kenny won the men’s keirin in Manchester on Friday.
There was a second gold for Laura Trott in the points race ahead of team pursuit colleagues Dani King and Elinor Barker in a Wiggle Honda 1-2-3.
The three will be joined by Joanna Rowsell on Sunday for the team pursuit, riding for the first time in the event as a four, with tickets still available for both remaining days of the championships.
In the para-cycling 3000/4000 metre pursuit, Sophie Thornhill (Sportcity Velo) and pilot Helen Scott (Performance Cycle Coaching) completed a hat trick of British titles by winning the BVI mixed category while Paralympian Shaun McKeown (GS Avanti) won the C1-5 mixed discipline.
Sam Harrison (100 ME%) triumphed in the men’s scratch race, lapping the field, with Ed Clancy second (Rapha Condor JLT) and Steven Burke third (Node4 - Giordana Racing).
Twenty-two-year-old Varnish, winner of 500 metre time trial gold on Thursday, qualified fastest and went undefeated on her way to the final before overcoming Great Britain teammate Victoria Williamson (VC Norwich) by two heats to nil.
Katy Marchant, in her first nationals since switching from heptathlon to cycling, was pushed hard by double junior world champion Dannielle Khan but took bronze in straight heats.
“I’m really happy with the sprint win because it’s been something I’ve been working on,” said Varnish, who is still on course to replicate Becky James’ four title wins achieved in 2012's competition.
World keirin champion Kenny (Sky Track Cycling) added the British title to his global crown, won back in February in Minsk, making serene progress to the final in his rainbow jersey where he then attacked from the front and held on up to the line with Matt Crampton and Lewis Oliva (Team USN) second and third respectively.
“It was nitty gritty on Matt’s wheel in third place I was just happy to hold station knowing Matt (Crampton) was one of the race favourites,” three time Olympic champion Kenny said.
“The national keirin championship is always tight so going to the front quite early on I was a bit of a sitting duck.
“Lewis (Oliva) went down the inside and pushed me out wide so I had no choice in going to the front.”
The women’s points race was a Wiggle Honda affair as team pursuit world champion trio Trott, Barker and King battled for the national jersey. Four five-point maximums from the ten available over the 25-kilometres helped Trott to 28 points with King back on 19 and Barker 14.
“It was really hard, it was a tough race,” Trott said. “It’s not like a pursuit, that’s predictable but in the points people use different tactics so you never know what’s going to happen.”
“You’ve just got to keep concentrating which is hard to do when you’re tired. I was just letting Dani (King) and Elinor (Barker) fight between them and just come round when I felt like it.”
The championships continue on Saturday and Sunday with the men’s individual sprint part of the programme on Saturday. It's not too late to get tickets for the championships via Ticketmaster or at the box office at the National Cycling Centre.
Results
Women's individual sprint
Men's keirin
Women's points race
Men's scratch race
Para-cycling 3000/4000 metre pursuit
