Thu. Sep 19th, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

Venues: Glasgow and across Scotland Dates: 3-13 August
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and app.

Great Britain impressively claimed five gold medals, two silvers and a bronze medal on day three of the Cycling World Championships.

Katie Archibald, Anna Morris, Josie Knight and Elinor Barker, rode superbly to claim a first British gold in the women’s team pursuit since 2014, in the final race of the evening.

Charlie Hatton was the first British rider to take gold on Saturday in the men’s mountain bike downhill.

Britain’s medal tally now stands at 22.

Aside from those successes, Sam Ruddock and Blaine Hunt also successfully defended their men’s C1 and C5 1km time-trial titles in Glasgow.

And Jaco van Gass won gold in the men’s C3 scratch race, finishing just ahead of his compatriot Fin Graham for the second consecutive day, after also edging the C3 1km time trial on Friday.

Earlier in the day Cat Ferguson took silver in the women’s junior road race, while Laurie Greenland claimed a bronze behind Hatton.

Emotional Archibald inspires GB

In the women’s team pursuit Britain were overwhelming favourites to win a first world title for nine years after taking the silver at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris in October and also finishing second at the Tokyo Olympics.

And Archibald, who spoke poignantly about her grief following the death of her partner and fellow cyclist, Rab Wardell, in the build up to these championships, was given a rousing reception as the riders were announced.

Once on the track, the British quartet did not disappoint despite initially having to make up a slender deficit on a well organised New Zealand team.

However, as the British team got stronger New Zealand eventually faltered when Michaela Drummond dropped away from the middle of their train, with the disruption helping the hosts eventually win by more than four seconds.

“You don’t really [stay focused with that reception], it is all coming out now with this is the event,” Archibald told BBC Sport.

“Someone was talking about imposter syndrome the other day and you almost have it the other way round, we almost see ourselves as the best in the world but we have not been on the top step since 2014.

“So to have that feeling validated feel’s good.”

Ruddock gave Britain the perfect start to the evening despite having to watch on anxiously as Li Zhangyu rode last in the men’s C1.

But he was soon able to punch the floor in delight when the world record holder was only able to post the third best time, with Li’s compatriot Liang Weicong securing the silver medal.

Meanwhile, Hunt was more than a second faster than American Christopher Murphy and Belgian Niels Verschaeren.

Hatton masters the mud

Hatton, 25, had earlier put in an outstanding run in rain-lashed conditions to secure gold in Fort William with fellow British rider Greenland taking bronze behind Austria’s Andreas Kolb.

Victory for the unfancied Hatton, who had never won a World Cup race sparked wild celebrations at the finishing line as he became the fifth British rider to win the world crown since the event was first staged in 1990.

“It is absolutely insane. I am lost for words,” Hatton told BBC Sport.

“I knew I was riding well this weekend but I never expected the win. I hit all my lines and had a really good run.”

Prior to that event British hopes of a medal in the women’s mountain bike downhill were dashed as Austria’s Valentina Holl defended her title on the final run, that gold-winning effort pushing Britain’s Louise-Anna Ferguson into fourth.

Five-time former winner Rachel Atherton finished eighth despite dislocating her shoulder in practice.

Switzerland’s Camille Balanche and France’s Marine Cabirou won the silver and bronze medals.

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