Varnish seals perfect defence with keirin title at British Cycling National Track Championships

Varnish seals perfect defence with keirin title at British Cycling National Track Championships

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V-Sprint Racing’s Jess Varnish completed a four-title haul for a second consecutive year at the British Cycling National Track Championships.

The 23-year-old won women’s keirin gold at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester on Sunday to add to her sprint, team sprint and 500m time trial titles.

London Olympian Varnish cruised through her first round heat and waited until the final 100m of the final to pass Katy Marchant, who eventually finished third behind Dannielle Kahn.

"I’m really happy to be up on the podium again,” Varnish said.

“The keirin can be quite a lottery so I just wanted to go out and execute a good ride.

“It was really close and I’m happy Danni got second and it gives me good momentum for the bigger races now it’s the start of our season. I’ll have a day’s rest then it’s back to the gym!”

Callum Skinner matched Varnish’s accomplishment as part of the winning North West team sprint squad.

The Scot joined Olympic champions Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes to defeat Sportcity Velo’s Matt and Thomas Rotherham and Jack Payne by over two seconds in a time of 44.132.

Skinner, who replaced Lewis Oliva after the qualifying round, ends the five-day competition with British sprint, team sprint, keirin and kilo titles to his name.

“I think it went really well today,” three-time Olympic champion Kenny said.

“We don’t get many hitters as a team so it was important to make the most of it and we did three really solid rides with Callum and Lewis on the back as well.

“With each ride we got better which is good to see. You don’t get many events where you do three rides and it’s good to go through that and to go quicker each round is a big positive for us.”

Performance Cycle Coaching’s Peter Mitchell, Ryan Owens and Thomas Scammell won bronze with a convincing win over Swinnerton Cycles trio Sean Mayer, Dave Readle and Barnaby Swinnerton in 46.840 seconds.

Dame Sarah Storey took two laps on the field in a fantastic performance to win the women’s points race.

The Pearl Izumi rider rode solo for over twenty laps of the 25-kilometre race to eventually gain a first 20 points to the delight of the crowd.

A second soon followed with teammate Ciara Horne and Wiggle Honda’s Amy Roberts to give 36-year-old Storey a commanding total of 58 points.

Wiggle Honda’s Elinor Barker won silver with 35 points as Commonwealth Games champion Trott grasped bronze with 30 points after winning the final sprint.

“I feel a bit overwhelmed,” Storey said.

“I wasn’t expecting to be the rider that won at all. I’ve got a teammate in Katie Archibald who is on fire at the moment and I just wanted to make the race fast because that would play into her hands too. I found myself taking a lap, which seemed to take forever!

"That helped me take the points and once I realised halfway through I thought ‘brilliant, let’s keep going.’

“It was fantastic though, it’s such a hard race and to come out I’m really pleased and overwhelmed.”

There was a second British title for 100%ME’s Oliver Wood in the men’s scratch race. Wood, a gold medallist in the team pursuit, launched a late attack from the bunch.

He was followed by Metaltek’s Zach May and teammate Chris Latham who crossed the line for silver and bronze respectively.

“I’m ecstatic," said Wood. "It’s great to get another one with the lads. It was quick from the start but there was no one really sitting up or sitting deep and it really kicked off with 25 to go.

"It’s great- I started this week’s competition with a national championship jersey and I’ve ended with one so it’s all very good.”

Results

Women's keirin
Men's team sprint
Men's scratch race
Women's points race

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