Silver for GB sprinters but pursuit team off pace
Dominant Holland take gold ahead of British trio Clancy vows to hit back after failing to qualify
Great Britain took silver behind world record-holders Holland in the men’s team sprint on the opening night of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships here.
Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin and Jason Kenny broke the British record en route to the final, clocking 42.294sec. However, they were well off the pace set by the Dutch. Holland smashed the world record in qualifying with 41.275 and lowered it again in the final, to 41.225.
It is a huge gap for GB to make up before the Olympics this summer, yet at least they reached the final.
Britain’s hopes of winning a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in their blue riband event, the men’s team pursuit, are looking decidedly shaky after they failed to qualify for one of the medal rides today.
Britain’s quartet of Ed Clancy, Ollie Wood, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield managed perfectly respectable times in their two qualifying rounds. Their 3-50.341 from the opening round, in particular, was pretty much bang on their world-record pace from Rio.
But respectable does not cut it any more. Denmark annihilated the team pursuit world record in the afternoon session, clocking 3-46.579. Like the Dutch, they also lowered their own mark again in the evening session with 3-46.203, over five seconds quicker than Britain.
GB have traditionally been able to make up large chunks of time between the World Championships and the Olympics, but there are now so many teams ahead of them. New Zealand, who face Denmark in today’s final, also smashed the old world record, as did Italy, who will fight Australia for bronze. All four went well under 3-50, a barrier GB have never broken.
Clancy, who has been part of the GB team at each of the past three Olympics, tried to temper expectations coming into this week by saying that GB would arrive “overcooked rather than undercooked”. He also reiterated that GB would not be using their Olympic kit, unlike other nations. It is understood, however, that neither Denmark nor Australia were wearing their Olympic skinsuits here.
Clancy insisted he was still hopeful of claiming a fourth consecutive Olympic crown. “There is a part of me that knows we will do a better performance,” he said. “We have the right riders and the right marginal gains to come in the future.”
Britain’s women’s pursuit team of Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Neah Evans and Ellie Dickinson qualified second fastest behind the United States.
Laura Kenny, meanwhile, just missed out on a medal in the scratch race, finishing fourth. Riding a month after breaking her shoulder at a World Cup event in Canada, the four-time Olympic champion hit the front with four laps remaining but could not hold off Dutch rival Kirsten Wild and was then passed by Jennifer Valente (United States) and Maria Martins (Portugal).
“I’m a little disappointed,” Kenny said. “Fourth is obviously the worst place you can finish. But I feel like I had good legs. I wish when Kirsten came over I let the gap go.” Kenny added that she felt no pain from her shoulder, however, which bodes well for her main event, the omnium, which takes place tomorrow.