Lauren Bate finished fourth in the women's keirin at the UCI Junior Track World Championships, capping off a successful week in Montichiari for the young sprinter.
After winning bronze in the team sprint, silver in the sprint and breaking the national record twice in the 500m time trial, Bate finished her week with a hard-fought fourth place in the keirin final.
After the event Bate said: "I'm absolutely over the moon! I never expected to step up to world level only a month after Euros and have improved as much as I did!
"I got three personal bests, two national records and two medals; I couldn't have asked for a better week really!
"We never went to the junior worlds with the intention of winning medals but just to focus on our own progression so a medal is always such a nice bonus."
The sprint silver medallist added: "This competition was always the big aim of the year - our main target.
"Euros was a good chance to get a hit out along the way and obviously we wanted to perform well there too but worlds was always the main performance goal.
"I find racing at such a high level like a world championship brings a lot more out of me than any other event and I get such a buzz from racing at that level.
"I think it's such an amazing experience to be able to do that as a junior before stepping up to the big scene as a senior to get a taste of what it is like and get so much learning and racing under the belt which is something I am very grateful for."
Home after an amazing week! Last ever junior race is over and I couldn't be happier with how this years gone! Now for some chill time pic.twitter.com/Rcu8rTas7l
— Lauren Bate (@LaurenBatee) August 28, 2017
Bate added that she hoped she would progress to the Great Britain Cycling Team's Senior Academy and to compete as an under-23 at the 2018 European championships.
"Joining the Senior Academy will be a big challenge and a whole new chapter in my cycling career and a chance to get a really good solid year as a full time athlete which is really exciting," she said.
Bate's bronze medal-winning team sprint teammate Georgia Hilleard finished ninth in the competition.
On way home from Junior Worlds. Fantastic week and exactly where we need to be. Promising times...@BritishCycling pic.twitter.com/VVhBwaaHWp
— Kevin Stewart (@KevinDStewart) August 28, 2017
Lewis Stewart and Caleb Hill rode in the men's kilo qualifying round, setting the times of 1:04.20 and 1:05.10 respectively.
Stewart finished in 16th place and Hill in 26th.
