Archibald remains positive despite rare individual loss

KATIE ARCHIBALD says she is ‘not disappointed’ to be walking away with only the silver medal in the women’s 3,000m individual pursuit.

The Scot lost the final to Germany’s Lisa Brennauer last night at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, coming in just under three seconds behind her Wiggle High5 team-mate.

Archibald had been nervous about the event all week, citing it as the one which could ‘take a hit’ at this year’s European Championships.

‘When I was worried about not doing it, I really thought I’d be running around mid-30s,’ said the 24-year-old. ‘That was the way the training efforts had been going.

‘I took a lot of comfort in the team pursuit stuff we’d done. I felt rough this morning, really bad. Felt a million miles apart this afternoon but it still wasn’t really within touching distance.’

Archibald was aiming to win her fifth consecutive gold in this event at the European Championships and started strongly, leading in the opening stages.

But Brennauer took the lead at the 500-metre mark and never gave it up, with the gap stretching every lap to give her a time of 3:26.879.

Archibald said: ‘It’s better when you win but, going into that, I needed to coast and not to back up. There’s not a 26 in me just now. I’m not disappointed to be behind that.’

The Scot was part of the group who won the team pursuit on Friday night, but she doesn’t cite that as the reason for not winning the gold in this event.

‘There’s no excuse. Lisa won the gold, Justyna Kaczkowska with the bronze. All three of us did the three team pursuit rounds,’ added Archibald.

‘Maybe you could say other people cope better with it. We were just bested.’

Archibald’s older brother John competes in the Road Cycling event on Wednesday and she gave a little insight into how he is feeling ahead of that, saying: ‘I’m probably more nervous than he is if I’m honest. For him, it’s all to gain and nothing to lose. It should be a good day.’

There was success in the men’s omnium however, with Ethan Hayter producing a brilliant ride in the points race to claim gold.

The teenager had performed well in the scratch — where he finished second — and came fifth in the elimination race but it was in the points where he stretched clear of the field.

After lapping the field he finished second in the event with 39 points, enough to claim gold from Elia Viviani.

It was the third gold for Great Britain.