Devon’s Birchill is on form in Argentina

YOUTH OLYMPICS

Devon’s Harry Birchill led the way for Great Britain in the cycling team event at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires on Monday.

Team GB were in the points on a strong day in the combined cross-country, and there was an impressive performance from the 17-year-old from Newton Abbot.

Birchill won the big final, earning the men’s team 100 points in the process.

The competition saw riders compete in heats all the way through to the finals, with three of Team GB’s four cyclists racing in finals and all four scoring points for their teams.

Birchill was the man to beat throughout the day and his final time of 1:44.000 was enough to see off the challenge of the Italian rider Tommaso Dalla Valle in second place (1:45.000) and bring home maximum points.

It was a tougher day for Edinburgh’s Sean Flynn, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals but still secured three points and helped the men’s pair sit in third on 117 points, with Kazakhstan leading on 220 points with two events left.

In the women’s event, confident performances from Harriet Harnden and Anna McGorum in the big and small finals respectively capped off an impressive points tally for Team GB on day three.

Malvern’s Harnden finished in fourth on 1:55.000, which was enough for 50 points, and with McGorum (from Peebles) adding 25 more the pair’s total of 95 left them in ninth after three of the five events.

In the gymnastics events, Devon’s Adam Tobin brought a busy and overall successful Games to a close as he competed in the parallel bars final on Monday.

The 17-year-old from Bideford was eighth on the start list, so he knew what was expected of him as there were some strong scores on the board, most notably from Takeru Kitazono of Japan (14.166) and China’s Dehang Yin (13.800).

Tobin scored 13.366 for a fifth-place finish in the parallel bars final. He was due to take part in the horizontal bar final later in the day, but did not start.

Tobin’s gymnastics teammate Amelie Morgan stole the show once more for Team GB as she took her medal haul in Argentina to three with silver on the floor and bronze on the beam on Monday.

The 15-year-old from Portishead in Somerset, who also won all-around silver, said: “It feels absolutely incredible. I was not expecting three medals at a Youth Olympic Games coming into it, so I’m over the moon. I just wanted to go out there and show everyone what I can do.”