Great Britain have won their first medal of the championship when the men’s team pursuit team took bronze on the second day of competition at round three of the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia.
Germain Burton, Matt Gibson, Chris Latham and Mark Stewart overpowered the team from Spain in the first round setting a time of 4:03.268, over two seconds ahead of their European counterparts, booking themselves a place in the bronze medal final against Denmark.
The Scandinavian foursome proved no match for Great Britain as Burton, Gibson, Latham and Wood won by just under half a second to take the bronze medal, crowning Great Britain overall world cup champions in the men’s team pursuit in the process.
The gold medal went to the Australians who overcame the Rusvelo team, beating them by over a second.
Day two marked the start of the individual sprint events and in the women’s sprint Jess Varnish and Victoria Williamson qualified in sixth and tenth place respectively.
Both riders made it through to the quarter-finals and after the first heat, Williamson and Varnish were 1-0 up against their respective opponents.
However after two heats they were both at 1-1 with Williamson being pipped to the line by France’s Sandie Clair by a mere two thousandths of a second.
Both heats went to a third deciding ride where Clair overturned Williamson for a place in the semis. Jess Varnish also lost out 2-1 to Max Success Pro Cycling’s Shuang Guo forcing them both into the 5-8 finals later in the day.
At the end of the competition Williamson and Varnish placed sixth and seventh respectively.
Fastest qualifier earlier in the day, Elis Ligtlee of the Netherlands went on to win the competition beating Guo 2-0 in the gold medal final, forcing the London 2012 bronze medallist to settle for silver.
In the men’s keirin, Great Britain’s sole representation came from Lewis Oliva who won his first round ride comfortably and went straight through to the second.
Here the 22-year-old placed fourth and with only the first three riders going through to the final for 1-6 place, Oliva found himself having to contest for seventh place in the the minor final.
At the conclusion of the eight-lap race, he placed 10th overall. It was Colombia’s Fabian Hernando Puerta Zapata who took the gold medal on home soil.
Day two also saw the start of both the men’s and women’s omniums where after three events Great Britain’s Oliver Wood and Team USN’s Emily Kay are currently both in 13th place with three events left to contest on the final day of competition at the Velodromo Alcides Nieto Patino.
In addition to the conclusion of both omnium events, the final day’s racing will also herald the start of the men’s individual sprint as well as the women’s keirin.
Results
Women's sprint
Men's keirin
Women's team pursuit
Men's team pursuit
Women's omnium - scratch race
Men's omnium - scratch race
Women's omnium - individual pursuit
Men's omnium - individual pursuit
Women's omnium - elimination race
Men's omnium - elimination race
