KATIE Archibald may be missing from these Olympic Games in Paris but she was very much at the forefront of everyone’s minds as Britain’s women’s team pursuiters took bronze.
The double Olympic champion was ruled out of these Games just six weeks ago after a freak accident that saw her break two bones in her leg as well as tearing ligaments off the bone.
That meant a sudden reshuffle in the team pursuit, with Jess Roberts brought into the fold and a frantic month of getting up to speed.
Based on this performance at the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, that is exactly what they have done, as Josie Knight – Archibald’s housemate - Roberts, Elinor Barker and Anna Morris finished strongly to get the better of Italy in the bronze medal race.
And Knight explained afterwards just how tough the last few weeks have been since Archibald’s injury.
She said: “Six weeks ago when I arrived back at my house and Katie wasn’t there and she was in A&E, it really felt like the Olympic dream had gone down the drain a little bit.
“It took me a week to refocus, selection was up in the air. We didn’t know who the team was going to be, who was going to be riding, what we were going to do. It was a nervous week while we waited for reselection. We had to refocus and come up with a new strategy and we have nailed it.”
The performance is all the more remarkable when you consider that Dame Laura Kenny had also announced her retirement in the lead-up to Paris.
But the quartet’s performance here has shown that even without Kenny and Archibald, they are a force to be reckoned with.
They set a new national record of 4:04.908, just missing out to eventual champions the USA in the first round, before overhauling the Italians with a spectacular final kilometre.
Given the notable absentees, Knight was delighted the team had proved themselves, even if she is looking forward to her housemate being back in the squad.
“When you come from a nation of so many greats, it’s assumed they are the reason you win anything. We’ve got a national record, we are the four fastest team pursuiters in the nation and that is pretty cool.
“I speak to Katie all the time, she’s my housemate, one of my best mates. She’s just been sending messages of support. We’ve not been going into anything in great detail, she’s focusing on her rehab and she is going to be back for Worlds so I look forward to welcoming her back into the team.”
The women’s team pursuit bronze came a matter of minutes after the men had taken silver behind Australia.
Three years on from a disaster in this event, when Charlie Tanfield was called in as a late replacement for the retiring Ed Clancy before crashing, this was a much better performance.
Australia had set a world record in the first round, and it was always going to take something spectacular to beat them.
The quartet of Tanfield, Dan Bigham, Ethan Vernon and Ethan Hayter gave it everything to spring a surprise, asking strongest rider Hayter to go to the well and try to pull off the upset.
He gave it everything but eventually had nothing left to give, slipping off his seat as he blew up, allowing the Aussies to complete the win.
But from the disappointment of Tokyo, this was still a very welcome silver medal – Team GB’s 1000thin summer and winter Games since the very first in Athens back in 1896.
Hayter said: “It was quite a long way for me to go, nearly five laps at the end. I had the race in my hands a bit, it was what we wanted. I literally tied up, I went pretty deep, my arms went weak and I fell off.
“I don’t know how I didn’t crash. We really took it to them, we maybe could have paced it a little bit better but we definitely left it all out on the line, that’s the deepest I’ve gone in a while.
“It’s a bit embarrassing but we gave it everything and a silver medal after the last few years with this lot is really nice.”
Elsewhere, both Paisley’s Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull booked their place in the quarter-finals of the men’s individual sprint by the slimmest of margins, requiring photo finishes to see off Nicholas Paul of Trinidad and Tobago and Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev respectively.
Earlier in the day, Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant, freshfrom Monday’steam sprint gold, both came through the first round of the women’s keirin.
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