Katie Archibald dominated the women’s Omnium to win the gold medal at the UEC European Championships on Friday in Grenchen.
Archibald won the Scratch, Tempo and Elimination races and was one of three riders to gain a lap on the field in the deciding points race, soaring to the top of the points standings and winning 155 points.
She took the title ahead of runner-up Daria Pikulik (Poland) and third-placed Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), who both scored 124 points.
Archibald had also earned the gold medal as part of Great Britain’s winning women’s Team Pursuit squad on Thursday. Her victory in the Omnium marks her 19th career title at the European Championships.
“I’ve got five really big targets between now and the Games – that’s one way to look at it, but the other is that it’s a European title, and that’s something I’m always happy with,” Archibald told SkySports.
“I was pretty nervous. The scratch race didn’t settle me like it normally does, especially if you get a win, you come off feeling confident, but I thought I’d gone too hard. It turns out everyone else went hard as well.”
Elsewhere in the women’s events, Germany’s pair Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Sophie Grabosch won the gold and silver medals in the Sprint, while Great Britain’s. Sophie Capewell on the bronze-medal round against Mathilde Gros (France).
In what was a successful day at the European Championships for Great Britain, Oliver Wood secured his first career gold medal at the event in the Scratch Race ahead of Roy Eeffting (Netherlands) and Donavan Grondin (France).
Former Hour Record holder Dan Bigham came into the men’s Individual Pursuit as the favourite after a scorching qualifying round saw him secure the fastest time of 4:02.775, which also set a new track record in Grenchen.
In the final for gold on Friday, however, it was Italy’s Jonathan Milan who came through to win the title in the final kilometre with a winning time of 4:03.744, forcing Bigham to settle for silver.
Tobias Buck-Gramcko (Germany) won the bronze medal round against Corentin Ermenault (France).
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