Katie Archibald took silver in the World Championships elimination race in Santiago, Chile, claiming her first individual medal at a world championships since omnium gold in 2021.
But there was disappointment for defending sprint world champion Emma Finucane, who was aiming for a hat-trick of successive rainbow jerseys but saw her title defence end in the quarter-finals, while Britain will have no male athletes in the keirin final after early exits for Matt Richardson and Harry Ledingham-Horn.
22-year-old Finucane knocked out compatriot Lauren Bell earlier in the competition and faced neutral athlete Iana Burkalova in the quarters, with the pair sharing the first two sprints to force a decider.
After an edgy start with a track stand Burkalova led out the final sprint, and although Finucane had the speed to overwhelm her she was relegated for dropping down into the sprinter’s line, bringing an end to her competition.
Britain’s women’s team pursuit quartet of Anna Morris, Josie Knight, Jess Roberts and Meg Barker could not secure a hat-trick of their own either after failing to get past Germany in the first round. With Maddie Leech swapped in for Roberts the quartet secured the bronze medal after dominating Belgium in the third-place ride-off.
Scot Archibald was not part of Britain’s team pursuit squad this time after being part of the gold medal-winning outfit in the last two world championships.
The 31-year-old is instead focusing on the Madison and elimination races, taking silver in the latter in a two-up sprint with Ireland’s Lara Gillespie.
The race required three attempts to start after multiple crashes, but Archibald stayed out of trouble in her maiden world championships elimination race, making it into the final four before out-sprinting Victoire Berteau of France to guarantee a podium spot.
Helene Hesters of Belgium did not contest the match sprint, with Gillespie having enough left in the tank to force a gap to Archibald and seal the title.
Archibald said: “Rationally I’m very happy, physically in my legs I’m a bit disappointed, but I guess that’s the mark of respect for a world championship title, you want to be on the top step.”
Both GB’s Richardson and Ledingham-Horn failed to make it past the keirin quarter-finals, despite having qualified in second and first place respectively in their heats. Both found themselves out of position in the quarters and unable to get back into contention to the make the latter stages of the competition.
