Junior Women Elinor Barker, Amy Roberts and Lucy Garner won gold in the Team Pursuit at the European Championships, beating their Russian rivals in a nail biting final.
European Team Pursuit Champions Elinor Barker, Amy Roberts and Lucy Garner
The Junior Women qualified fastest in the morning with a time of 3:35.292, a new British record, and faced Russia in the evening final, which proved to be an exciting race. At half way, the women were 1.8 seconds down, but they didn’t the pressure get to them and continued with their race plan. Going into the final lap they had chipped away at the Russian advantage, but they were still 0.2 seconds down. However, they gave their final push, and managed to win by 0.4 seconds, crowning them European Champions with a time of 3:33.921 another British record. The women were delighted with their win and are now setting their sights on more medals over the next few days.
Great Britain Olympic Development coach, Matt Winston was delighted with their performance: “For the final we set out a plan. We knew the Russians would set off quick but having watched them in training and in qualification I knew that they would tie up towards the end. The plan was to ride our own schedule regardless of what the Russians were doing up to 6 laps to go. With 7.5 laps to go we were 1.8 seconds behind and from there, we began to chip away at their advantage. With 1km left, we were still 1.2 seconds behind the Russian train and even with a lap to go we were still in second place. The girls raced as hard as they could to the line and by the finish we had turned the tables and won with 0.4 seconds advantage in a time of 3.33.921 which again is a new British Record.”
Becky James and Victoria Williamson also didn’t disappoint in the Women’s Team Sprint, qualifying in second place in the morning, to also face Russia in the evening final. The women came away with silver in the Team Sprint final with a time of 34.687 at the European Championships.
Competition continues today with Amy Roberts in the Points Race and Becky James in the Women’s Sprint competition.
