GB's Katie Archibald defends omnium crown for second gold at European track championships

GB's Katie Archibald defends omnium crown for second gold at European track championships

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Great Britain Cycling Team’s Katie Archibald continued her sensational form with a second gold medal in as many days after winning the omnium at the UEC European Track Championships.

The 23-year-old Scot took her tally to two golds and one silver in Berlin as her omnium victory ensured she remained world and European champion in the event.

Archibald had already won silver in the team pursuit before defending her individual pursuit title on Friday.

And she proved too strong for the omnium field over the four events as she triumphed by seven points from Kirsten Wild at the Velodrom.

“I’m happy - it felt like a bit of a cheat last year,” Archibald said. “It was post-Olympics the first time I won it and I thought ‘have I gotten away with it?’, so I’m happy to come back and defend.” 

Archibald won the bunch sprint in the opening scratch race, taking fifth as a four-ride break held on to the line.

The Scot then took a lap and eight sprints for a superb tempo race victory to sit in third overall at the halfway point.

A tactically brilliant elimination race saw Archibald see off the challenge of Kirsten Wild in the final two-rider showdown for the win.

And a controlled points race, in which she collected 15 points, completed a superb week for the Olympic champion, taking her tally to 12 European medals.

Katy Marchant crashed in her keirin semi-final after a collision with Spain’s Tania Calvo Barbero and did not take to the start line for the 7th-12 final. Earlier Marchant had come through the repechage to reach the final 12.

Youngster Sophie Capewell, in her first senior competition for Great Britain, gained valuable experience but could not win her keirin round one repechage to progress to the second round.

Joe Truman impressed in the kilo to finish sixth. The 20-year-old stopped the clock in 1:01.816 in the final as Jeffrey Hoogland won. Callum Skinner had also qualified for the final but a back injury sustained during qualifying saw the Scot withdraw.

Ollie Wood was 16th in the individual pursuit with a time of 4:25.278 while in the points race Mark Stewart was 17th, finishing on -17 points after 160 laps. Alan Banaszek won the title. 

Nineteen-year-old Ellie Dickinson was 12th in the scratch race as four riders took a lap on the field, Trine Schmidt of Denmark sprinting to gold.

How to follow the championships

  • Live blog each day on the British Cycling website.
  • Updates on British Cycling’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
  • Daily report will appear on the British Cycling website.
  • Live coverage of medal sessions on Eurosport 2 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with highlights of the final day of racing on Eurosport 1 on Sunday.