The home nations added another trio of medals to the collection on the second day of the Commonwealth Games, with one silver and two bronze medals on the track at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark.
Men’s Keirin
Jack Carlin took silver for Scotland in an eventful men’s keirin event. Carlin went into the event as one of the favourites and went straight through in the first round in a one-two finish behind England’s Hamish Turnbull.
Joe Truman qualified next, winning his repechage, before dramatically crashing out of the race in the second round. It was good to see Joe back on his feet after the crash and heading to hospital where he was confirmed to have a broken left collarbone – we wish him a speedy recovery.
Carlin went on to take the third and final qualifying spot in the final, but he couldn’t stop Trinidad’s Nicholas Paul stealing a march in the final, going on to take gold. Carlin tracked him all the way though to hold off the rest and secure another superb silver.
Turnbull’s race finished in the second round after a fifth place finish, with a ninth place finish overall.
On his silver medal, Carlin said:
“It’s another silver, I came here for gold. I’m not here to make up numbers and as much as medals are nice, there’s only one you really want. Time will tell if I get one or not.
“I race because I enjoy racing in front of crowds, the medals are bonuses in many respects.
“I’ve not got a gold yet but I’m 25, there are still two years to Paris and I still feel like I’m getting stronger. I just need to trust the process and hopefully it will come.”
Women’s sprint
Emma Finucane took bronze for Team Wales in the women’s sprint, after a home nations bronze medal face-off with England’s Sophie Capewell.
In the best-of-three medal race, Sophie took the initial lead with a first round victory, with Emma pulling it back in the second round. The final round saw Emma finish strongest, coming over the top of Capewell to take the medal, adding individual sprint bronze to yesterday’s team bronze.
Women’s Individual Pursuit
In the women’s individual pursuit, Scotland’s Neah Evans initially set a new Games Record of 3:23.476 in qualifying, which was later beaten by an Australian and New Zealand rider, putting Neah into the bronze medal final. Going strong from the start, Neah beat Australia’s Sarah Roy by over three seconds, with a time of 3:25.050 to take home the bronze medal. Her time in qualifying was also a new British record.
England’s Josie Knight just missed out on fighting for her second bronze medal of the Games, finishing fifth with a time of 3:25.488.
Men’s Individual Pursuit
The men’s individual pursuit qualifiers saw strong rides from English and Scottish riders, with John Archibald setting an initial fastest time of 4:12.541, before being slowly pushed down the leader board by teammate Kyle Gordon, England’s Dan Bigham and Charlie Tanfield who eventually qualified for the bronze medal race. Charlie delivered a strong ride, but another Commonwealth medal was not to be, as he was beaten to the bronze by Australia’s Conor Leahy.
The track cycling continues tomorrow, with medals up for grabs in the men’s sprint, men’s tandem B sprint, women’s tandem B 1000m time trial, men’s 15km scratch race and women’s 25km points race.
