European Track Championships: British men's and women's team pursuit squads win gold

Great Britain’s men’s and women’s team pursuit squads both won gold medals on the second day of the European Track Championships in Guadeloupe.

The women’s quartet of Laura Trott, Elinor Barker, Katie Archibald and Ciara Horne blew away Russia in the final to retain their title, defeating their opponents by seven seconds.

They were actually trailing by one second after the first 1km but had moved to one second up by the halfway mark and then emphatically pressed home their advantage in the remaining 2km.

It means Britain's women have now won the European title four times in five years.

The men’s gold-medal final was far closer, with the British quartet of Ed Clancy, Andy Tennant, Jon Dibben and Owain Doull beating Germany by just 0.8 seconds after mounting a comeback.

Fightback

Germany had powered into a two-second lead by the halfway mark, but they faded in the final 2km and Britain took full advantage to claim a narrow victory.

Like the women, Britain’s men retained their European title and take their record to four gold medals in the last five years.

Clancy then won his second medal of the day by claiming bronze in the men’s scratch race behind winner Otto Vergaerde, of Belgium, and runner-up Eloy Teruel, of Spain.

Also on the second day of the championships, German world champions Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte were beaten in the final of the women’s team sprint by the Russian pairing of Elena Brezhniva and Anastasiia Voinova.

However, Germany made amends in the men's team sprint when Robert Forstemann, Tobias Wachter and Joachim Eilers claimed gold with victory over France’s Gregory Bauge, Kevin Sireau and Michael d’Almeida.

The women’s points race was won by Poland’s Eugenia Bujak, with Britain’s Elinor Barker finishing 14th and Katie Archibald 16th.