Britain take team pursuit gold
Laura Kenny said British women’s endurance was in better shape than ever after GB’S team pursuit quartet romped home on the opening night of the UCI Track World Cup event at London’s Olympic velodrome.
Kenny and fellow Rio Olympic gold medallist Katie Archibald teamed up with Neah Evans and Ellie Dickinson to thrash the United States in the final, catching the Americans midway through the four-kilometre race to bring it to an early conclusion.
The world champions were miss- ing Chloe Dygert, the individual pursuit world record-holder, which Kenny said was a shame as it denied them the chance to properly measure themselves against the best in the world. But Kenny noted that the 4min 17sec which the British team set in qualifying was the fastest they had ever ridden in qualifying outside of an Olympics.
“We didn’t expect to catch them quite as fast as that,” said the quadruple Olympic champion, who will team up with Archibald in the Madison tomorrow. “We thought it might be with, like, two laps to go, so it was slightly frustrating at the end because we wanted to carry on for a time.
“But it’s encouraging signs. For me personally I felt much better in that round than I have in any of the others. That was another reason it was frustrating, because I felt we were on for a time. We were trying to do a 4:15.
“A 4:17 in qualifying is the fastest we’ve ever qualified apart from the Olympics. So I mean, that’s good. And I wouldn’t even say we were full gas in qualifying either. And that’s pretty exciting.”
British riders also took gold in the men’s team pursuit final, although it was not the GB national team who were victorious. With the elite men training out in Portugal, Huub-wattbike’s Dan Bigham, Jonny Wale, John Archibald and Ashton Lambie delighted the crowds by beating Belgium in the final, while a youthful GB team of Fred Wright, Will Tidball, Ethan Vernon and Matthew Walls beat the Italian quartet to bronze.
This is the first UCI World Cup event at which para-cyclists have raced as part of the same programme and Britain enjoyed a golden evening in the para-cycling too, with Kadeena Cox getting the better of fellow Rio Paralympic gold medallist Sarah Storey to win gold in the C4-5 500m time trial. There was also gold in the men’s C4-5 1km event for Jody Cundy.
Day two today will see Elinor Barker compete for gold in the omnium, Joe Truman and Jack Carlin take on the keirin, and Matt Walls and Fred Wright in the Madison.
Meanwhile, the verdict in Jess Varnish’s employment case against British Cycling and UK Sport will not be revealed until mid-january at the earliest, a tribunal has been told.
Varnish is attempting to prove that she was effectively “employed” by British Cycling, rather than merely a funded athlete, prior to her dismissal in 2016.
If the judge rules in her favour, she will be clear to sue British Cycling and UK Sport for unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, victimisation and detriment suffered for being a whistleblower.
However, such a ruling might also force UK Sport to overhaul its entire funding system, with potential tax and pension implications.
Some employment law experts believe it could also lead to a wave of similarly disgruntled athletes suing their governing bodies.