British women claim Madison gold, one-two pursuit finish at Track Worlds

Britain's Katie Archibald and Maddie Leech produced a powerful late surge to win gold in the women's Madison at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships on Saturday, holding off France and Italy after a dramatic crash ended the Netherlands' challenge.

Twice Olympic champion Archibald and Leech, the gold medallists with 30 points, finished ahead of France's Victoire Berteau and Marion Borras on 24, while Italy's Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini took bronze with 20.

Despite trailing early on, 31-year-old Archibald and her 22-year-old partner Leech recovered superbly to take command in the decisive moments through their teamwork to clinch gold.

Archibald is an Olympic champion in this event, having won at the Tokyo Games with now-retired Laura Kenny. Archibald took silver in the women's elimination race earlier on Thursday, with Ireland's Lara Gillespie claiming gold.

The race took a dramatic turn when Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes, already a double gold medallist at the championships, crashed heavily with her partner Lisa van Belle midway through the contest, forcing the pair out of the race.

Anna Morris led a British one-two in the individual pursuit to cap a dominant night for the team. American Chloe Dygert claimed bronze.

Morris successfully defended her individual pursuit crown with a commanding ride, clocking 4:27.005 to finish 2.3 seconds ahead of compatriot Josie Knight as Britain swept gold and silver in the event.

The Welsh world record holder showed no sign of slowing and stayed smooth on the black line in the closing laps to seal her second straight world title.

WORLD RECORD FOR VAN DE WOUW

The Netherlands' Hetty van de Wouw won the inaugural women's kilometre time trial with a world-record performance. The event featured in the women's world championship for the first time this year, replacing the former 500-metre distance.

Van de Wouw set the record in qualifying with 1:03.652, then lowered it to 1:03.121 in the final, slicing off half a second. Russian Iana Burlakova, who was competing as a neutral, clinched silver and New Zealand's Ellesse Andrews took bronze.

With her triumph in the kilometre, Van de Wouw, 27, completed a hat-trick of world titles this week, having already won gold in the team sprint and individual sprint. She will also compete in Sunday's keirin, an event in which she owns Olympic and world silver medals.

Spain's Albert Torres claimed his maiden men's omnium world title, with Japan's Kazushige Kuboki claiming silver and Belgium's Lindsay De Vylder taking bronze.

An emotional Torres, who suffered collarbone fractures earlier this year and crashed out of the Madison at the Paris Olympics, said the title marked the perfect end to a difficult season. "I didn't even believe I had won until my coaching team confirmed it," the 35-year-old said.

"This time I was very consistent in the scratch, the tempo race, and the elimination races. That helped me a lot. And the points race was exciting right to the end."