More World Cup glory for John and Katie Archibald

Milngavie cyclist John Archibald set the seal on his outstanding cycling year with World Cup gold in London last week.
John Archibald (left) celebrates with his team-mates after their win in London (pic courtesy of SWPix).John Archibald (left) celebrates with his team-mates after their win in London (pic courtesy of SWPix).
John Archibald (left) celebrates with his team-mates after their win in London (pic courtesy of SWPix).

The 28-year-old and his Huub Wattbike team-mates Dan Bigham, Jonny Wale and Aston Lambie defeated Belgium to claim team pursuit gold in the fourth round of the UCI Track World Cup at the Lee Valley VeloPark.

And there was yet more success for sister Katie who added two more golds to her own World Cup haul.

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Their success completed a remarkable achievement for Huub Wattbike who - despite being a trade team competing against national squads, including that of Great Britain - have taken a gold, a silver and two fourth places from the four World Cup rounds.

Katie Archibald (right) and Laura Kenny on the podium after their victory in the madison (pic by courtesy of SWpix.com)Katie Archibald (right) and Laura Kenny on the podium after their victory in the madison (pic by courtesy of SWpix.com)
Katie Archibald (right) and Laura Kenny on the podium after their victory in the madison (pic by courtesy of SWpix.com)

Speaking from Switzerland, where he is competing at this week’s Track Cycling Challenge event in Grenchen, John told the Herald: “We went into the London one really hoping that we would win it.

“Looking at the field and how we’d run up to it I think we’d have been disappointed if we hadn’t made the gold final.

“Just making sure we did it on the day was a nice finishing touch to the whole series.

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“We did some fast times, tried some new things and got some medals out of it was well so it was pretty well rounded.”

John admitted that doing so well against elite national riders has given him and the other members of the Derby-based team great encouragement.

He said: “It does, especially at an individual level when we do the individual pursuits.

“We compete very well against these nations so we go into it with confidence.

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“We’re all living together, train together and travel together. It’s a close-knit group and we all get along. There’s good banter between the team and the other nations see that.”

Meanwhile Katie added to her glittering collections of medals with two more golds.

The 24-year-old - along with Laura Kenny, Neah Evans and Ellie Dickinson - caught world champions the USA with over a kilometre of Friday’s team pursuit final still to go.

That secured their third World Cup title in a row after victories in Canada in October and Berlin the following month.

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And Katie then completed a golden hat-trick for the Archibald clan on Sunday, once more teaming up with Laura Kenny to win the madison.

It’s the third World Cup meet in a row that Katie has clinched a gold double.

As well as team pursuit golds in Milton and Berlin she also won the madison in Canada with Elinor Barker and the omnium in Germany.

It was also the perfect way to end what she says is the most successful year of her staggering career to date.

The focus now is on bulding up for the World Championships which will take place at Pruzkow in Poland in March.