Great Britain’s Katie Archibald added a 16th medal to her UCI Track World Championships collection on Thursday night, earning silver in a crash-marred elimination race.
The event was stopped and restarted twice in Santiago, Chile, after two heavy crashes caused two riders to be stretchered off. Archibald came into the final two with Ireland’s Lara Gillespie, and led out the last lap from the front, but was pipped on the line.
“Once we did get going, I had a couple of close calls, and then got into the swing of things,” double Olympic champion Archibald said afterwards. “I’m really, really happy to get to that point to contend when it’s essentially a different race in the final two; you do an elimination race and then you do a match sprint.
“I feel like I did well in the elimination race, and then I just didn’t have the legs in the final there. Normally I come off these races in pieces, physically done-in, and I felt like I didn’t have the top end. I’m, rationally, very happy. Physically, my legs, I’m a bit disappointed, but I guess that’s a mark of respect for a World Championship title.”
Gillespie’s gold medal made her Ireland’s first ever female winner at the Track World Championships.
The Welshwoman, who was targeting a third rainbow jersey in a row, was initially judged to have won the deciding heat, before the UCI commissaires ruled against her for “entering the sprinter’s lane when the opponent was already there”.
GB’s men’s sprinters also left the keirin competition in the quarterfinals, both Olympic silver medallist Matthew Richardson and Harry Ledingham-Horn unable to make the top-four in their heats. The event was won by Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, now a 18-time world champion.
GB earned two medals in day two, the second coming in the final event of the night, the women’s team pursuit. The quartet of Josie Knight, Anna Morris, Meg Barker and Maddie Leech beat Belgium comfortably in their bronze medal ride-off, after qualifying second-fastest on Wednesday. Italy won the title, ending a two-year British streak.
Elsewhere, Germany’s Moritz Augenstein won the men’s scratch race.
The racing continues at the Track World Championships on Friday with finals in the men’s points race, men’s kilometre time trial, men’s individual pursuit, women’s omnium and women’s sprint. Check out our streaming guide for more information on how to watch the action.
