The revolving door of new track champions in British Cycling turned again amid the frenzy of the final track session in the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, as Katie Archibald missed out on the medals in the women’s Omnium, but 20-year-old Emma Finucane claimed her first world title in the women’s sprint final.
Archibald rallied towards the end of the gruelling Omnium in the UCI World Cycling Championships in Glasgow, but was a subdued presence for most of the evening. A gold medallist earlier this week in the women’s team pursuit, the Scot finished fourth behind Jennifer Valente of the United States.
But there was a breakthrough performance from Finucane, from Carmarthen, already a silver and bronze medallist in the team sprint, who took her first world title after beating Lea Friedrich of Germany in the first two sprint matches.
“That was pretty surreal, to be honest,” Finucane, winner of four titles at the British National Track Championships this year, said. “I just took each race as it comes and once I made it into that final, I knew I really wanted to win. But I also had to put that into the back of my mind and focus on the process with Kaarle [McCulloch], my coach.”
Finucane, who crashed in the women’s keirin race, won the best of three match sprints, to take the world title.
“I just needed to deliver myself on that last lap as fast as I could and give everything for that last 200 metres, and I feel like I executed really well,” she said. “I can’t believe that I’m world champion: I don’t think it will ever sink in.
“I really wanted this and I worked really hard for this, with my coach and with my team back in Manchester,” Finucane, bronze medallist in the Commonwealth Games, said. “It’s definitely super special, especially after coming so close in the team sprint.”
In the men’s keirin final, Jack Carlin couldn’t match the turn of speed produced by Colombia’s Kevin Quintero, and finished fifth, as did Will Perrett in the points race.
Despite missing out in the Omnium, British Cycling Performance director Stephen Park was one of those to praise Archibald’s achievements and the strength of character she has shown throughout these world championships.
“Katie’s shown an incredible resilience,” Park said. “She’s had an incredibly tough year.”
Archibald’s partner, Rab Wardell, died of a cardiac arrest in bed last August, but despite her grief, she continued to train and prepare for the Glasgow worlds.
Archibald said: “I’ve had this anxiety building since May, really, feeling like you’re going to be trotted out for slaughter. I thought once I got racing that maybe it would be OK. I’ve struggled with the pressure.”
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Park added that he admired the resilience Archibald had shown “to get up every day, get back on the bike, get back into training and be in a position to turn up here, really get out and deliver her best”.
“Every single member of our team has come here hoping that, whether she wins or doesn’t win, she will feel she’s given her best performance. However the races have gone, everyone here is incredibly proud of the journey she’s come on.
“Hopefully she continues towards Paris and Los Angeles (2024 and 2028 Olympic Games),” Park said. “She’s a stand-out character, stand-out performer with some great teammates around her.”
With Great Britain topping both the elite medal table and the paracycling medal table, Park has every reason to be satisfied with how his athletes have performed. In the velodrome, Britain’s cyclists claimed nine medals, five of which golds, while the paracyclists took 30 medals in total, 18 of which were gold.
On Thursday, Tom Pidcock will look to add to the tally in the mountain bike cross country short track in Glentress Forest. The Olympic champion will be buoyed by the news that Dutch rival Mathieu van der Poel, winner of the men’s elite road race title last Sunday, will not be competing.
The new world champion, who slid into the barriers in Glasgow city centre, en route to his rainbow jersey, said that he was still “suffering a bit” from his crash.
“Because of the adrenaline, I didn’t feel it during the race, but after the finish, I immediately noticed that I had hurt myself,” van der Poel said.
