No pressure for Williamson on Worlds return

CYCLING Vicky Williamson will go into her first UCI Track Cycling World Championships in four years insisting everything that comes her way will be a ‘bonus’.

The 25-year-old has been named in Great Britain’s 22-strong squad to compete in Pruszkow, Poland this week, just over a month after she returned to racing following career-threatening injuries.

A horror crash in January 2016 left Williamson with fractures in her neck and back, a dislocated pelvis and a slipped disc in her neck - and fears she would never walk again.

While those injuries have healed after a gruelling rehabilitation process, Williamson’s perspective has irreversibly changed.

“I don’t feel as much pressure as I would have done because for me everything I achieve now is a bonus,” she said. “To be even selected for a worlds, obviously I never thought it would happen again. I don’t just want to turn up, I want to compete – but it’s about taking a second to find out how far I’ve come.”

The sprinter returned to racing in January, throwing herself in at the deep end as she rode in the Hong Kong leg of the World Cup series before flying back to Manchester to compete in the National Championships two days later.

She added: “I don’t think anyone could have gone through what I went through and not come out the other side more resilient. That’s to my advantage psychologically.”