Elinor Barker Adds Gold To Silver For European Glory In Berlin

Elinor Barker joined Ellie Dickinson in saving the best until last for the British team as they struck gold in the Madison at the 2017 UEC European Track Championships in Berlin.

Olympic champion Barker had already picked up a silver medal in the Team Pursuit earlier in the week, but with debut Dickinson she won the final sprint for 10 points which saw the British duo leapfrog Ireland for the gold medal.

Britain finished on 58 points, with Ireland in second on 50 and Netherlands third with 46. It meant the British team ended the championships with four medals – three golds and one silver.

“I’m feeling pretty good after that,” said Barker. “We worked to our strengths – I’m not feeling too fast at the moment, but I thought I was fit enough to have quite an attacking race.

“So we worked really hard with that. Unfortunately we couldn’t get that second lap but managed to get enough sprints and enough time off the front to ensure we picked up enough points.”

The pair showed their clinical nature by taking points in the early stages, while a lap was also to come their way to pick up a crucial 20 points.

The race laid to rest the disappointment of competitions past for Dickinson, revelling in her first European title at just 19 years of age.

“I’m really happy, especially to do it with El. We rode a Madison together in LA (at the Track World Cup) which didn’t really go to plan so it was nice for this one to go well,” she said.

The European Track Championships drew to a close on Sunday with Chris Latham and Ollie Wood finishing 13th in the men’s Madison.

Olympic bronze medallist Katy Marchant missed out on competing in the keirin after a crash on Saturday, while Jack Carlin finished 11th in the keirin.