Kay promises there’s more in Oz to come after PB

EMILY Kay still feels like there is more to come despite setting an individual pursuit personal best on the second day of action at the Commonwealth Games.

The Coventry-born 22-year-old clocked 3:37.501 in qualifying to finish 12th, with the Commonwealth Games record being broken four times on a day of rapid riding inside Brisbane’s Anna Meares Velodrome.

Kay finished fourth in the team pursuit on Thursday and still has the points and scratch races to come on the track, before moving to the road next week.

And she is hoping to shake out some fatigue from her legs before she gets to the Gold Coast itself.

“I’m happy with a personal best. It was pretty tough though. I felt the rides from yesterday in my legs, definitely,” she revealed. “But I gave it everything I could and I can’t ask for much more than a PB.

“I definitely can go faster than that. There’s more in the tank. I started off quite fast and just died towards the back end because the rides in my legs hit me a bit.

“I’ve not prepared for individual pursuit [IP] in any way. The first IP session I’ve done recently was an hour before that ride, and I only did four laps round the track.

“I came here to focus on the team pursuit and the bunch races and just gave the IP my best.

“The plan at the moment is to do both the scratch and points races.

“I really like bunch racing and love racing the omnium, so I’d really like to do well in them but obviously there’s some fierce competition in them, so it’ll be tough.”

This is Kay’s first experience of a multi-sports games and she is sharing a room in the team hotel with fellow rider Eleanor Dickinson.

The pair are housemates back in Manchester and Kay said the chance to share the experience with a friend is one she will not forget.

“It just makes it so much more fun that we’re experiencing it both for the first time and it’s someone I know really well and really get on with,” she concluded. “The whole experience is amazing. I’ve never been to anything like this before and I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s been really good.”

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