The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Milnathort athlete Laura Muir with her bronze medal after finishing third for Great Britain behind winner Genzebe Dibaba of Ethopia and Sifan Hassan of Netherlands in the women’s 3000 metres final on the opening day of the World Indoor Athletics Champions
Great Britain claimed their first gold medal of the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships last night with victory in the men’s team pursuit in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
Three-time Olympic champion Ed Clancy anchored a youthful team alongside Kian Emadi, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield to victory in three minutes 53.389 seconds, beating Denmark by a little over one-and-a-half seconds.
While Clancy celebrated a third world title, his team-mates were collecting their first rainbow jerseys.
Clancy said: “It feels pretty epic to be honest. I’m 33 next week. You take every win you can get.”
Back in December Clancy had highlighted these championships as a real chance to claim another world title, given Australia could be forgiven for focusing on the upcoming Commonwealth Games on home turf.
He was correct as the defending champions did not compete, but Clancy insisted that did not make the racing much easier.
He said: “The Danes are strong, the Kiwis were maybe not what we expected because they usually push us right to the wire. I wouldn’t say it was a lean year though, we had a to do a 3:53 in Apeldoorn – usually a slow track – to win.
“It was another tough worlds. But yes, the Australians are still the team to beat and obviously it helps they’re not here.”
Laura Kenny helped Britain to a silver medal in the women’s team pursuit.
Twenty-four hours after husband Jason won silver in the men’s team sprint, four-time Olympic champion Laura – joined by Scot Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Emily Nelson – got the same result as USA retained their title.
These world championships are Kenny’s first competitive event since she gave birth to baby Albie six months ago.
Archibald will not defend her omnium title today, with her madison partner Elinor Barker stepping in.
Asked why the change has been made, Archibald said: “My body’s kind of working against me. We put in our best medal hope and that’s Elinor.”