Track Cycling World Championships: GB win men's gold & women's silver in team pursuit
- Published
Great Britain win thrilling team pursuit gold
Great Britain won men's gold and women's silver in the team pursuit finals on day two of the Track Cycling World Championships in France.
In the men's event, British quartet Ethan Hayter, Oliver Wood, Ethan Vernon and Daniel Bigham edged out Olympic champions Italy in a thrilling race to cause an upset.
In the women's race, GB fell just short of matching their male team-mates' achievement as they finished second.
Italy were crowned as world champions.
Double Olympic champion Katie Archibald, Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Neah Evans, Anna Morris and Josie Knight delivered a strong performance but were unable to compete with the pace of the Italian riders.
France took bronze in the women's event to the delight of the home crowd at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris, while Denmark were third in the men's race.
Britain's men's quartet had topped their opening qualifier on Wednesday and then sealed victory against New Zealand in the first round.
"It was a clean, solid ride," Bingham said of their gold medal-winning race. "All of us are on cloud nine."
It was a surprise defeat for the Italian team, led by new hour world record holder Filippo Ganna, who were defending their 2021 title.
Bingham added: "We really focused on executing good, clean rides and having that drilled into us.
"It's not about being here to win, it's about doing everything we can to perform to the best of our ability and getting maximum performance out of it.
"I think bit by bit, every single round, we stepped forward and really improved and I think that one, it was the best we had, full stop."
However, GB's Sophie Capewell failed to win a medal after the 24-year-old was knocked out of the women's sprint at the quarter-final stage.
In the semi-finals of the men's keirin, Scotland's Jack Carlin finished a disappointing ninth and was eliminated, while Welsh rider Rhys Britton crossed the line in 14th place in the men's 15km scratch race.
Meanwhile, Sophie Lewis recovered from a heavy crash in the women's elimination race to come home in sixth place.
Thursday's two medals for GB will be added to the three bronze medals the team won on day one of the competition.