Ethan Hayter bags second gold for GB on Track World Championships day four

Having conquered the team pursuit on Thursday, Ethan Hayter added another rainbow jersey to his wardrobe with victory in the men’s omnium at the UCI Track World Championships. 

The Brit, who also won the event at last year’s championships, looked assured across all four races, crossing the finish line with a 20-point winning margin. 

“It’s incredible," Hayter told Cycling Weekly inside the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines track centre. "I think it’s going to take some time to sink in.

“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve done,” the 24-year-old added. “The bankings are higher and the transitions are quite steep, so the speed is on and off a bit more. It just makes it really tactical.

“I think over the four events, by the end of the last race, I was probably the strongest,” he continued. “I knew I could control the race.” 

Last year, Hayter won two events in the omnium, before drawing out a resounding 54-point swing in the final race. The Brit cut his victory finer this time round, finishing fourth, second and second respectively in the scratch, tempo and elimination races.

In the dying moments of the points race, France’s Benjamin Thomas dug deep to gain a lap on the field, leapfrogging his opponents to take the silver medal. Aaron Gate (New Zealand), the star of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, finished in third. 

Great Britain’s Josie Knight also claimed her second medal of the championships with bronze in the 3,000m individual pursuit. The 25-year-old set a new British record in qualifying, clocking a time of 3-20.792, before going on to beat Olympic gold medallist Mieke Kröger (Germany) in the race for third.

“Positional discipline went out the window,” the Brit said of her final few laps. “I was just trying to get it home as fast as I could. So then to hear the gun go, and it was me, I was obviously delighted.”

An Olympic silver medallist, Knight was part of the quartet who came second in the team pursuit on Thursday, losing out to Italy. “To be so close to a world champion's jersey in the TP was a little disappointing,” she said. “This is only my second time riding an individual event here, so to get an individual medal, I’m over the moon.”  

Germany’s Franziska Brauße won the gold medal in the event, while Bryony Botha (New Zealand) came second. 

Laura Kenny crashes out of Madison

The British duo of Neah Evans and Laura Kenny finished fifth in the women's Madison, after the latter fell hard on the boards in the final few laps. 

The event, won by Belgians Lotte Kopecky and Shari Bossuyt, started tensely, with two early crashes bringing the racing to a halt. A third crash followed after the restart, before the French found their groove and began stretching out a lead over the field. 

In the second half of the 120-lap race, the British pair chiselled into the deficit, climbing to second on the scoreboard. The Belgians then gained a lap on the bunch, before Kenny, the reigning Olympic champion, collided with a New Zealand rider and slid down the banking. 

“Madisons are notoriously chaotic,” Kenny's partner Evans told Cycling Weekly after the race. “And that one especially so.

“There were a lot of interesting moves from other teams, resting riders who are kind of in the race,” the Scot continued, “so you need eyes in the back of your head.

“I was confident that we could get the final sprint, and then obviously an error from another team just cost us [the opportunity to take the bronze medal]. 

"Bitterly frustrating, but that’s Madison racing.”

France prove they're the fastest

In the women’s 500m time trial, France's Marie-Divine Kouamé sent the home crowds into a frenzy, beating six-time world champion Emma Hinze to the gold medal with a time of 32.835. 

The 20-year-old's blistering ride came less than 24 hours after her compatriot Mathilde Gros claimed France’s first title of the championships, prevailing in the women’s sprint.

“Yesterday, when Mathilde won, we were in front of the telly crying," Kouamé told the press after the race. "We thought it was incredible, and honestly I dreamed of this race.

“Now I just want to get back to training to come back and win the 500m, the keirin, the sprint, everything," the French rider added. 

The defending champion, Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich, failed to make the eight qualifying spots, while Brits Emma Finucane and Lauren Bell, who won bronze in the team sprint on Wednesday, placed 11th and 12th, ruling them out of the final.

Likewise, there will be no British riders in the men’s sprint finals on Sunday, after both Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull were knocked out in their heats.