Ollie Wood and Mark Stewart snatched men’s Madison silver on the line and came within a whisker of gold for Great Britain in a thrilling finale at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
New Zealand won the final sprint but Wood came charging down the final straight to take second place and with it pip the Kiwis to silver by a single point, while finishing only two points off the 37 points that gave gold to the Dutch duo of Jan-Willem van Schip and Yoeri Havik.
While Wood replicates the Madison silver he won alongside Ethan Hayter in last year’s worlds in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the medal was only the second at this level for the 27-year-old Scot, a particular thrill on home boards in Glasgow.
“Some of the guys we’re racing against have just come from the Tour de France, they’re super strong so we knew to be in with a shout we’d have to be clever and bide our time and we did that,” Stewart said.
“We did that and we’re only two points off gold so there’s contrasting feelings. We’re gutted not to get the win, how amazing would that have been to deliver but at the same time to be here in Glasgow and be on the podium is fantastic.”
A late dig was not enough for Neah Evans as she missed out on the medals in the women’s points race, surrendering her title.
Less than 24 hours after winning the women’s Madison crown alongside Elinor Barker, Evans found she was missing the extra kick she needed in a race won by Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky ahead of Australia’s Georgia Baker.
Evans started strong and had followed an attack from Kopecky and Baker midway through the race, looking to gain a lap on the field.
But the pair opened up a small gap to Evans, and while they could work together to pick up the points, Evans had to chase alone, putting in an effort that would cost her later on as she later lost the lap she had worked so hard to gain.
Evans then tried to go long to get the points she needed in the final sprint but could not respond to an attack from Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino.
“The race didn’t quite go as I was hoping, so I tried to adapt,” Evans said. “I just tried to reset and relax and I relaxed too much. I think I didn’t have the usual zip in my legs.”
Evans came into these worlds, on her home track in Glasgow, still suffering the effects of a training crash last week – the injuries still visible on her right leg.
Although that did not stop her and Barker winning in the Madison, she could not back it up a day later.
“Up to the crash, I was having a brilliant lead-in,” the 33-year-old said. “I thought, ‘I am going to be fine’, but then you have that little step up. You say it is not going to affect you, it won’t make any difference, but you know it is going to.
“At this level just a few watts missing is the difference between being able to close the gap or not. So is what it is.”
There was yet more success for Britain’s para-cyclists on the penultimate day in the velodrome too.
Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham joined Lizzie Jordan and Amy Cole to win gold in the mixed B team sprint – a 19th world title for Fachie at the age of 39.
Fran Brown won the women’s C1 scratch race and Jody Cundy, Kadeena Cox and Jaco van Gass teamed up to take silver in the C3 mixed team sprint.
On this day 2013: Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announces retirement
Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announced his retirement from competitive cycling 11 years ago, admitting: “I know it is the right decision.”
The 37-year-old Scot had been contemplating continuing until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but revealed he was quitting the sport at a press conference in Edinburgh on April 18, 2013.
Hoy was Britain’s most decorated Olympian after his haul of two gold medals at London 2012 saw him surpass rower Sir Steve Redgrave’s record of five, although he was overtaken by former team-mate Sir Jason Kenny in 2021.
In explaining his decision, Hoy said: “I think in sport at the highest level you’re dealing in such small margins and you can tell when you’re good but not good enough.
“It was very emotional coming in there (to the press conference) and I was trying not to watch the video montage with the sad music.
“I don’t want it to be a sad moment.
“I want to celebrate it and be happy because I know it is the right decision.
“It’s a decision that I didn’t take lightly and I thought about it very hard.”
As well as six Olympic titles, Hoy’s 13-year career featured 11 world titles and two Commonwealth crowns.
Hoy’s final race was the Olympic Keirin final on August 7, 2012 – on the final day of the London 2012 track programme.
Following retirement, Hoy pursued his passion for motorsport, including competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while he has also written children’s books.
In February 2024, the 48-year-old announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Paul extends rich form with double gold; Browne, Campbell also among T&T's medals at PanAm Track Cycling Champs
Trinidad and Tobago’s ace cyclist Nicholas Paul continued his rich early season form as he wrapped up another double gold medal-winning outing at the just-concluded Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Los Angeles, California.
Paul’s medals were won in his customary events, the men's Keirin and Sprint, and followed his fairly successful outing at the UCI Championships in Hong Kong where he recovered from a two-cycle collision in the Keirin to win the Sprint.
The 23-year-old again expressed gratitude for the continued support as he represents the twin island republic with much gusto.
“It is always an honour to represent my country and the Pan American region. Thank you to everyone for all the love and continued support. The Journey continues and the next stop will be the Nations Cup in Milton, Canada. So, I just want to continue putting in the hard work and let it show in my performances,” Paul said.
In the Keirin, Paul topped Colombia’s Kevin Quintero, while another Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Kwesi Browne copped bronze.
However, it took a photo-finish to separate Paul and another Colombian Cristian Ortega for the Sprint crown. Paul bettered his South American rival in the first ride before edging ahead in the second ride on the line by millimeters to retain his title.
Meanwhile, Akil Campbell was also among the medals, as he won a bronze medal in the men's scratch race.
In other results at the meet, Alexi Ramirez finished eighth in the women's elimination race and in the women's scratch race, while Makaira Wallace and Phoebe Sandy placed 13th and 17th in the women's sprint qualification, respectively.
On this day in 2018: Scotland’s Katie Archibald wins Commonwealth Games gold
Scotland’s Katie Archibald added Commonwealth champion to her long list of accolades on this day in 2018.
Archibald, an Olympic, world and European champion in various disciplines, took gold in the women’s individual pursuit in Brisbane, having broken the Games record in a blistering qualifying session.
Her only previous Commonwealth medal was the bronze she won on home soil in the points race in Glasgow four years earlier.
Archibald, then aged 24, said before racing began gold was the only colour she wanted and swiftly delivered, covering the 3,000m distance in three minutes 26.088 seconds to beat Australian Rebecca Wiasak.
She had set the record at 3:24.119 in a qualifying session which saw three riders go under the previous record set by England’s Joanna Rowsell Shand in Glasgow.
“It means a lot, especially in the individual pursuit because it’s not an Olympic event,” said Archibald. “2014 always stands out as a big year for Joanna Rowsell to kind of echo, because she had the title and the Games record.
“You look at the success she carried from that point in her career. I’d be very proud.”
Fired up by his sister’s performance, Archibald’s brother John then added another medal to Scotland’s tally with silver in the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit as England’s Charlie Tanfield clinched gold.
“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her,” said John Archibald.
“The Commonwealth Games record went and they all went better than her personal best so she had her back against the wall but she pulled out and delivered on the day and that got me going.”
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