Golden Barker praises embattled British team
French clinch men’s Madison
HONG KONG, April 16, (AFP): Elinor Barker praised the support she had received from her embattled British team after she won a morale-boosting gold medal at the Track Cycling World Championships on Sunday.
Barker’s victory in the points race was among the highlights on the final day as France celebrated two wins and Australia finished top of the medals table.
Britain’s second gold in Hong Kong came as they await an independent review Hong Kong before she pipped Hammer, an eight-time world champion, with a strong finish.
The Briton crucially picked up 20 points for gaining a lap with just four of the 100 laps to go, winning the first individual world title of her career.
France also enjoyed a late rally as they won their second and third gold medals through Francois Pervis in the time trial, and Morgan Kneisky and Benjamin Thomas in the Madison.
Pervis won the 1km time trial by 0.334sec from compatriot Quentin Lafargue and Czech rider Tomas Babek, who shared silver after a rare dead heat.
Thomas, who brilliantly won the fourevent omnium on the last lap of the last race on Saturday, also crossed the line on the 200-lap Madison to clinch his second gold in two days.
“It’s not easy to stand on my legs,” an exhausted Kneisky said, adding: “Everyone was motivated to give everything at the end of the week.
“Today was so incredible for us -now we’ll be focused for the future.”
But the championships didn’t end happily for Hong Kong’s former Olympic bronze-medallist Sarah Lee, who bombed out of the women’s keirin in spectacular style.
Lee finished fifth in her second-round heat but not before, in her haste to place among the leaders, she appeared to send South Korea’s Lee Hye-Jin crashing on the last lap.
German great Kristina Vogel eventually took gold in the keirin, picking up her ninth world title and her second in Hong Kong after the women’s sprint.