Barker earns Kenny approval with thrilling silver at worlds

lapped the field, before launching her sprint with two laps remaining.

“I wanted to go with about a lap and a half at the most and ended up going with just under two, so it wasn’t too far out from my plan,” she said. “[It was a] little bit too far maybe, but I felt like I didn’t really have a choice. I was really, really trying to convince [Dutch rider Kirsten] Wild that she needed to go; getting out of the saddle and trying to push her on to lead me out. [But] she wasn’t having any of it.

“I think I saw the riders coming over me and I thought, ‘I’m pushing I am happy with a silver medal and quite proud of it, but I’m not going to get to wear the world stripes next time I race a scratch race, which is what I wanted.”

Barker has at least two more bites at the cherry in the Madison and the points race, which she targeted pre-championships. She could potentially also win a bronze today if she rides in women’s team pursuit.

She did have one consolation. The rider she beat into third, Jolien D’Hoore of Belgium, remarked afterwards that she thought Barker looked exactly like Kenny on the bike. “I guess I’m a small British rider with a full face helmet on,” Barker smiled. “I probably do look like Laura on the bike.” Did she not mean in terms of the way she rode? “[That would be a] massive compliment in that case! I think she just meant visually. But either way. It’s a compliment. I’ll take that.”

There was disappointment for the men’s sprint team. The trio of Jack Carlin, Ryan Owens and Joe Truman, boasting an average age of 20, exited in the second round.

But both the men’s and women’s pursuit teams – traditionally GB’s ‘bankers’ but this year stocked with young thrusters – will have the chance to win bronze today. There will be further chances of medals from Chris Latham in the men’s scratch and Lewis Oliva in the keirin, with no less an authority than Sir Chris Hoy tipping the latter to finish on the podium.