Great Britain crowned European champions in women's team pursuit

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter

Published: February 9 2023 | 20:24

Last updated: February 11 2023 | 13:59

Great Britain are crowned European champions in the women's team pursuit in Grenchen, while the men's team take the silver medal.

Great Britain won their first gold medal of the 2023 UEC European Track Championships in the women's team pursuit, while the men's team settled for the silver medal.

The women's quartet of Katie Archibald, Anna Morris, Neah Evans and Josie Knight blew world champions Italy out of the water to win gold with a time of 4:13.890 - over two seconds quicker than their opponents' 4:16.018.

Italy managed to get off to the quicker start before GB established a healthy lead just before the end of the first kilometre, and their advantage extended to over a second at the 1500m mark.

Gaps began to arise between the wheels for GB, but the Brits briefly managed to extend their lead to over two seconds - largely thanks to the exhilarating pace of Archibald.

There would be no late collapse for GB as they stormed to the European title, with world champions Italy forced to settle for silver, while Germany roared back to defeat France in the bronze medal race.

The men's team of Oliver Wood, Ethan Vernon, Dan Bigham and Charlie Tanfield would attempt to replicate the women's success in their gold medal race with Italy, but there would be no repeat of their world title triumph this time around.

Italy quickly edged ahead at the start and built a healthy advantage of over a second by the 1500m mark, with individual pursuit world champion Filippo Ganna leading the charge with vigour.

GOOOOOOOLD in the women's team pursuit 🥇🥇🥇#EuroTrack2023 pic.twitter.com/Bw9Qeuu7XQ
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) February 9, 2023

GB managed to reduce the deficit briefly as the bell rang, but Italy remained unthreatened as they finished with 3:47.667 on the clock, while the Brits posted a time of 3:48.800. The bronze medal went to France, who edged out Denmark by less than two hundredths of a second.

Elsewhere on day two, there were a pair of agonising fourth-placed finishes for GB in the women's elimination race and men's 1km time trial, with Elinor Barker placing just missing out on a medal in the former.

Belgium's Lotte Kopecky won the gold as France's Valentine Fortin clinched the silver medal, while Maike van der Duin of the Netherlands pipped Barker to third place.

Meanwhile, Joseph Truman would end up just outside the podium spots in the men's 1km time trial, clocking a time of 1:00.291 - just over two seconds behind champion Jeffrey Hoogland.

Alejandro Martinez of Spain clinched second place with 59.687, while Germany's Maximilian Dornbach denied Truman a medal, posting a time of 59.778 to win bronze.

Finally, the men's points race saw William Perrett take 31 points to finish seventh, with Italy's Simone Consonni (54) taking the title as Albert Torres (51) and Donavan Grondin (48) finished second and third respectively.