I could hear the crowd screaming and prayed it wasn’t about my brother
Katie recovers to race after sibling John’s horror fall
KATIE ARCHIBALD watched her brother crash through the barriers in the time trial but couldn’t find the breakthrough moment she needed to hit the podium again.
The cycling superstar – who took gold and silver on the track – looked on helplessly on TV as John lost it just 4km into the 45m slog then collapsed at the finishing line after bursting himself to make up the time lost.
Bleeding and battered, John, 27, got back on his bike to finish the race as highest Scot in 11th spot but needed medical attention for heat exhaustion as concerned mum Louise shielded him from the baking 30-degree sun with their “Team Archibald” Saltire as he shook on the concrete.
He was taken away from the scene in a wheelchair by paramedics but Team Scotland bosses revealed he’d made a decent recovery and is still expected to manage the road race on Saturday.
His sister then followed him out in the women’s race and came in with a fourth place she claimed later she was ecstatic with – but at the time reckoned she had left too much out on the 25.5km event to be completely satisfied.
The Olympic, world and European track champion said: “I have not seen John yet but someone gave us his skinsuit and it had all been chopped up to get it off him.
“We saw it on the telly. It was so close to the start I thought I’d watch a bit in our apartment then go and get ready. I was walking away and I could hear everyone in the room start screaming, This is horrible’.
“But I was hoping it wasn’t him. I walked away with him on the telly. Literally, two seconds later I came back and saw the replay.
“It’s stupid. When it’s on the telly and people say it’s really insensitive to do the replays … well you want to see how it happened.
“But it’s different when it’s your brother. It didn’t affect my ride – it’s just not nice.”
As Archibald analysed her race, her second fourth place of the Games to add to her gold in the pursuit and silver in the 25km points race, it was clear she thought little was going to affect her ride for the better. She said: “I don’t think I was capable of trying hard enough to make it hard enough, if that makes sense. I felt really flat for the whole thing.
“So I’m really surprised to get fourth and I’m really pleased with that, considering things. The wheels just weren’t turning. I’m also embarrassed. Coming down that home straight it’s quite fast.
“When we do testing on the turbo you get into trouble if you sprint your last minute. They say if you can do that then you’ve not tried hard enough
up to that point. So I was telling myself not to sprint. Could I have sprinted? Yes. Which is why I say fourth makes me very happy.”
The men’s race took place in a sizzling morning sun as the riders struggled with a monster 800m hill climb known as The Beast.
Sunday night’s golden boy of the track Mark Stewart came in 16th and Highlander Kyle Gordon 27th in a race won by Aussie world champ Cameron Meyer, whom Stewart beat to glory at the weekend.
Dundonian Stewart said: “I didn’t expect much, I’m not a time trialist, and after Sunday might my body just wouldn’t let me do what I wanted.
Gordon, who packed in his plumbing job offshore to prep for the Games, said: “That was brutal out there. I don’t get many of my training runs in those temperatures – I don’t have a sauna in the house!”
Neah Evans, who medalled on the track as well, finished ninth in a ladies race which started in controversy after England forgot to register their top rider Melissa Lowther and she was refused a run.