Barker illness can't stop GB team pursuit women
BySportsbeat
Published 31/10/2015 at 10:39 GMT
She might not have crossed the finish line but Elinor Barker deserved praise, according to teammate Joanna Rowsell Shand as Great Britain's team pursuit women secured an extraordinary bronze medal at the Track Cycling World Cup in Cali.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
As Rowsell Shand, Katie Archibald, Ciara Horne and Barker lined up for their bronze-medal ride against China, the latter felt unwell and could not complete the race.
Barker had to take to the line in order to fulfil UCI rules but pulled off the track once the quartet had started the 16 laps of the Alicides Nieto Patino velodrome.
And that left the trio of Rowsell Shand, Archibald and Horne to defeat the Chinese quartet by less than two-tenths of a second in 4:26.662 to win Britain’s only medal of the opening day.
"She has been feeling a bit unwell," said Rowsell Shand. "But the regulations say that although you can finish with three you can't start with three so I think she was a real hero to be getting up on the line so we can start the bike race.
"Racing with three was quite a battle but we enjoyed it and got it, just, thanks to Elinor for putting us up on the line when she wasn’t feeling up for it."
Trott, Horne, Barker and Rowsell had qualified second fastest behind Canada in 4:21.736 before Archibald replaced Trott, who will ride the omnium on Saturday and Sunday, for round one.
There they lost to the USA but the time of 4:23.661 was enough to secure a spot in the bronze-medal ride where they triumphed over China.
In the men's team pursuit, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Andy Tennant, Steven Burke and Owain Doull were fifth after catching Germany in their final ride.
Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Lewis Oliva were denied a ride for a medal in the men's team sprint with the fifth fastest effort in qualifying in 44.311 seconds.
And in the women's team sprint, Victoria Williamson and Katy Marchant were ninth in 33.746 seconds as Williamson took on the opening lap. China won gold with Team Jayco-AIS second and Rusevelo third.
© Sportsbeat 2015
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