Katie Archibald column
Second-place Madison finish best British result in Poland
Great Britain’s Elinor Barker and Emily Nelson claimed the silver medal in the women’s Madison at the opening round of the 2017-18 Track World Cup in Pruszków, Poland, on Sunday.
The pair’s result was the highlight of the weekend for the Great British squad, which also secured two bronze medals.
Barker and Nelson finished in runner-up spot behind Belgian duo Jolien D’hoore and Lotte Kopecky, the current world champions in the discipline.
Both pairs fought hard for the victory, with the GB duo finishing on 23 points to Belgium’s 29. Italy came in third to round out the podium.
The Madison event returns to the Olympic schedule for Tokyo 2020, for both men and women, after being absent from the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Nelson had earlier taken a bronze medal in Poland as part of GB’S women’s team pursuit line-up alongside Neah Evans, Manon Lloyd and Emily Kay, by beating Germany in the ride-off. Italy took the gold medal with Canada in second.
GB’S sprinters secured bronze in the men’s team sprint, with Netherlands taking first place ahead of France.
British national team pursuit champions Team KGF, however, suffered a disappointing weekend. Having qualified in eighth in the first round, the team went down to three riders early in the second round and were leading entering the final kilometre but dropped their third rider, resulting in a time over a minute down on the Swiss team they were racing.
It was the first time the squad have ridden at World Cup level and they will doubtless hope to improve next time.
The five-date 2017-18 Track World Cup continues with round two in Manchester this coming weekend (November 10-12). The squad will have a greater number of Olympic veterans than the one fielded in Poland, with Steven Burke, Ed Clancy and Katie Archibald all in action.