Scotland’s Katie Archibald strikes gold at European Track Championships

Katie Archibald claimed her second gold of the European Track Cycling Championships with victory in the women’s points race.

Recently crowned as the European team pursuit champion, the Great Britain Cycling Team star added another gold medal to her collection by winning the women’s points race in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

She stated her intent from the start, winning the first two sprints, collecting points in the following two, and then winning the fifth sprint which put her in a comfortable lead at the halfway point. With 30 laps to go, she made her attack, along with Italy’s Silvia Zanardi, Poland’s Karolina Karasiewicz and Portugal’s Maria Martins, with the foursome taking a lap with 24 still to go. Zanardi ate into Archibald’s lead on the penultimate sprint, narrowing it down to ten points, meaning gold for the Scot was not a foregone conclusion. However, she stayed attentive and showed her strength by winning the final sprint, taking the European points race title by 18 points.

Archibald said: “I get drawn into the sprints and it puts me in danger, so against a different field I would have been kicking myself as I was really in danger – the right attack could have done me in, so I’m glad I kept my head and didn’t let the wrong move go and I was there to contend at the finish.”

In the women’s keirin, Sophie Capewell finished third in her heat which saw her progress to the finals.

The competition ends today with the men’s and women’s Madison races as well as the men’s kilo.