‘Racey Katie’ is new queen
As Laura Kenny watched from the BBC studios back home, hinting husband Jason may retire, Archibald won the omnium title left vacant by her pregnant fellow Brit.
The mercurial and unique talent may have dazzling pink hair, which poked out of her helmet, but this victory in the multi-event discipline came from pure Scottish grit and determination.
At times, it even looked as if she was laughing to herself as she powered around for 80 gruelling laps of the Tseung Kwan O Velodrome before sealing the gold medal in the last few centimetres.
“I get tweets from people all the time saying I look like I’m smiling, but I’m grimacing,” said Archibald, from Milngavie, near Glasgow. “It’s just the way my cheeks puff out when I’m pushing.
“That really hurt and there were times when I thought it was home time as I was losing form and was so ragged. When I crossed the line I was like ‘argh, it hurts’. I thought I’d lost my moment.
“The crowd went quiet and I couldn’t breathe. I did a lap and I thought ‘oh no, they’re not cheering anymore’.
“I was like ‘I’m ready now. I’m ready to celebrate’. I’m still feeling it now actually, getting a bit dizzy.”
Archibald missed last year’s event after a 70mph crash on her beloved Triumph Thruxton motorbike, which left her with serious knee and elbow injuries.
Then British cycling chief Shane Sutton criticised her for taking such a needless risk with the Olympics just a few months out. But the cyclist who gave up her job in telesales in the family’s mattress business bounced back to win Olympic team pursuit gold with Laura. Now she has her first individual world title.
Not that she will have been concerned by the tough-talking Aussie, who was left stunned when he met the girl with 23, tattoos, pierced lip and shockingly coloured hair – which she changes as frequently as a pedal stroke.
She said: “The first time I met Shane he came up to me and said ‘you look terrifying’ and just walked away.
“And I don’t think he meant it as a compliment. I don’t know what he thinks now, probably that I still look terrifying.”
Archibald went into the final event of the new omnium format, reduced to four races over one day, tied on points with Australia’s Amy Cure.
It went down to the eighth and final sprint, after 80 strength-sapping laps of the track, where she just had to finish ahead of her rival.
And as she passed the ‘Racey Katie’ banner being held aloft, Archibald nailed fourth spot to win by eight points Holland’s Kirsten Wild, Cure fading to the bronze.
But there was disappointment for Olympic silver medallist Callum Skinner, who went out in the second round of the men’s sprint.
Laura Kenny, meanwhile, has revealed that her husband Jason, the six-time Olympic champion, is considering quitting.
The 24-year-old, who is due to give birth in August, said: “He’s going to give himself a bit of time. He’s having six months to decide what he wants to do, whether to carry on or to retire. I’m not sure he even knows, to be totally honest.”
If Laura does return, she faces a battle for that omnium spot in Tokyo in 2020 from the girl with tattoos and ever-changing hair. from with