Archibald on top of the world with madison gold

Katie Archibald (right) and Emily Nelson in their World Champions rainbow jerseys (pic courtesy of SWpix.com)

The 23-year-old and partner Emily Nelson finished 15 points clear of the second-placed pair from the host country the Netherlands.

Their victory in Appeldoorn secured a third world championship career gold for Archibald and brought her major championship medal haul to a remarkable 19.

Earlier in the week Archibald, along with Nelson, Elinor Barker and the returning Laura Kenny, had won silver in the team pursuit.

However Archibald was denied the chance to defend the omnium title she won in Hong Kong 12 months ago becase she wasn’t feeling well.

Her place was taken by Barker who was originally supposed to ride the madison with Archibald.

But ironically Barker then had to withdraw from the madison after a crash during the omnium.

That paved the way for Nelson to take her place and it proved a successful switch as the British pair dominated the 120-lap race, winning eight of the 12 sprints.

Archibald said afterwards: “We went into the race with a plan. The plan was to win.”

Archibald began her week by taking part in the scratch race and in the earlier stages she appeared to be in contention for a medal there as well, before eventually finishing sixth.

Next up was the team pursuit, the discipline at whcih Archibald won gold at the 2014 Worlds and 2016 Olympics.

However this time the British quartet just lost out on the goal after a thrilling battle with the United States.

They qualified second fastest of the eight teams who went through from the opening stages and then were second fastest in the next phase to book their place in the final.

But the Americans again proved too strong, edging out the Brits by 1.3 seconds to win the title.

Archibald said afterwards: “The day went well, silver is still good.

“We did give a challenge, it was a competitive race, we stepped up I think. We’ve got a line of ways it could have gone better. With the form we had today I think that’s the best ride we could have done.”

Archibald’s next chance to add to her major medal haul will be at next month’s Copmmonwealth Games in Australia.