Steven Burke eyeing team pursuit success at Tokyo Games in 2020
ByPA Sport
Published 13/04/2017 at 14:38 GMT
Two-time Olympic champion Steven Burke has no doubt Great Britain can win a fourth successive team pursuit title at the Tokyo 2020 Games despite Australia winning another Track Cycling World Championships title.
Steven Burke is eyeing Olympic success in 2020
Image credit: PA Sport
Chris Latham claimed bronze in the non-Olympic scratch race for Britain's second medal on the second day in Hong Kong, which had seen earlier near misses and disappointment.
Britain's women's team pursuit squad finished fifth, their male counterparts fourth and Katy Marchant, Joe Truman and Lewis Oliva suffered early elimination in the sprint events.
Burke, Kian Emadi, Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood missed out on the podium in the four-rider, four-kilometres event, clocking three minutes 58.566 seconds.
That was seven seconds slower than the gold medal-winning ride of 3mins 51.503secs as Australia won a sixth world title in eight years.
Burke won Olympic gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 last August, but has just one title from the annual Track World Championships, claimed in Melbourne in 2012. New Zealand won in 2015.
"If you look at their (Australia) team they've got three world champions from last year, two of them went to the Olympics," Burke said.
"Don't get me wrong. We're trying our best to win. (But) all you can do is try your best. You can't ask for more.
"I'm very confident, 100 per cent, that we can bridge that gap and I think we've got a great chance of winning the World Championships in the next couple of years and I'm still confident going towards Tokyo."
Burke combined with Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Sir Bradley Wiggins to win gold in Rio as Britain followed up their Olympic successes in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Wiggins has now retired, but Clancy is on an extended break and Doull is concentrating on the road, with both anticipated to be planning returns to the team for Tokyo.
"Leading up to Rio we didn't win one world title, even in a home worlds (in London last year)," Burke added.
"We've got a big squad. We're all going to push each other really to make these next worlds and Olympics.
"That's what you want. That's what it takes to get a winning team."
New Zealand were second in 3:51.503 and Italy beat Britain to bronze in 3:56.935.
Latham is another member of the team pursuit squad and rode in the first round.
The 23-year-old Bolton rider was pleased with his third place as Poland's Adrian Teklinski stole a march on the field by escaping early and won ahead of Lucas Liss of Germany in second.
"I'm well happy with that," said Latham, who is racing the four-discipline omnium on Saturday's fourth day.
"Hopefully I can improve it now on Saturday."
Marchant, the Olympic bronze medallist, was focusing on positives after her first round exit in the sprint.
The 24-year-old Leeds rider claimed Olympic bronze behind gold medallist Kristina Vogel of Germany and fellow Briton Becky James, who won two silvers in Rio but is absent from Hong Kong on an extended post-Games break.
Britain did not enter the team sprint on Wednesday's opening day as Marchant was the only female sprinter to travel.
She finished a lowly 16th in qualifying - a flying 200metres - which established seedings for the head-to-head match sprints.
And Lin Junhong of China prevailed in the first round.
Marchant was looking at the bigger picture and Tokyo.
She said: "I'm really disappointed. I feel like I'm just missing a little bit of zing, which is something that coming off Rio is to be expected, I guess.
"I know to get knocked out in the first round is not what we expect from a medallist, but the preparation coming into this competition is about the process leading on to Tokyo."
Marchant is scheduled to ride in two more events here: Saturday's 500 metres time-trial and Sunday's Keirin.
Truman was eighth in the men's Keirin, won by Awang Azizulhasni, who became Malaysia's first world champion. Oliva was eliminated in the first round repechage.
Olympic champion Elinor Barker came into the women's team pursuit squad but, with Ellie Dickinson, Manon Lloyd and Emily Nelson, the quartet could finish only fifth, missing out on the chance of a medal.
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