The European Track Championships have long been fertile ground for British cycling legend Katie Archibald, and so it proved again on Sunday as she powered to a 20th overall title alongside team-mate Elinor Barker in the Madison in Grenchen. The duo moved to a robust 30 collective European titles with their dominant performance in Switzerland. Earlier, Emma Finucane added silver to Britain’s tally.
Katie Archibald stretched her personal European Track Championships title tally to 20 with victory in the Madison in Grenchen alongside Great Britain team-mate Elinor Barker.
Barker, herself a 10-time title winner, helped Archibald achieve a dominant victory over silver medalists France and third-placed Italy.
Archibald won her first gold alongside Barker back in the 2013 event. The pair joined Laura Trott and Dani King to claim a world record and gold medal in the team pursuit.
Having already won the omnium and team pursuit earlier in the week, Archibald was looking to claim three titles at the same tournament for the first time since her dominant 2017.
She and Barker took maximum points in four of the first seven sprints, ultimately finishing 13 points clear of their nearest rivals with 38.
Archibald was pleased with another title, underlining her desire to compete at this event.
An unbelievable 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙝 European gold for @_katiearchibald
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 12, 2023
She and @elinorbarker destroy the competition in the madison 💪#EuroTrack2023 pic.twitter.com/UdHki8IYgc
She said: “I’ve only missed one Europeans in my career, it’s the first thing I wore a GB jersey for. I was selected in 2013 to ride with El for the first time, and I’ve only missed once since then which was last year. It’ll now be my 10th season of having a European jersey and I’m proud every time I get to do that.”
Barker was making her return to major competition after giving birth last year.
She relished another victory, saying: “After team pursuit Katie said this is the day that we get to do the thing that we’re one of the best in the world at. We don’t get to do it very often, so let’s just go and enjoy it. For me it’s my first Madison for a really long time. I used to do it all the time and maybe forgot quite how special it is, and it’s also a privilege to get to ride with somebody like Katie. What’s not to enjoy?”
Archibald and Barker weren’t the only Brits to claim a medal on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Welsh competitor Emma Finucane took silver in keirin, finishing 0.108 seconds behind German winner Lea Friedrich.
Finucane had to time her late run to perfection to snatch silver ahead of Emma Hinze.
After her race, she was enjoying her moment.
She said: “I was really proud of myself to make it to the final. At one point I was thinking I was being really patient but then I just gave it everything to the finish line and to come away with second, I honestly can’t believe it. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life; just being stood up there on the podium with the Germans, thinking this is crazy.”
While Britain enjoyed a successful competition, they finished well short of medal table winners Germany. The Germans claimed seven golds to GB’s four, and also pipped Britain in overall medals 13 to 12.
