GARY COLTMAN, Scottish Cycling’s Performance Director, admits he was delighted with the raft of medals that Scottish cyclists picked up at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the Netherlands last weekend and that their impressive form bodes extremely well for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which begin in Australia’s Gold Coast in under one month’s time.
Reigning Olympic champion Katie Archibald added another gold and silver to her medal collection while Jack Carlin won his first senior major global championships medal, as did Mark Stewart.
Archibald has over the past few years become one of the British team’s bankers when it comes to winning international medals and she proved that once again, with gold in the madison alongside Emily Nelson and silver in the team pursuit alongside Laura Kenny, Elinor Barker and Nelson.
With Archibald likely to be one of Team Scotland’s brightest medal prospects in Gold Coast next month, Coltman admitted that he could not have been more pleased to see the 23-year-old pick up yet more silverware. “Katie did fantastic – they dominated in the madison and her team pursuit was a good ride as well although the Americans were just too strong on the day,” he said. “Katie’s consistency is remarkable and to come back like she did in the madison was so impressive.”
Carlin is only 20 years old but already has established himself as one of the most promising sprinters in the country. Coltman was pleased to see carlin make his mark on the world stage but he was wholly unsurprised by it, with the Glaswegian winning team sprint silver alongside Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens as well as individual sprint silver.
“The way Jack took the races on was great – he rode with so much confidence and really got stuck in and took the race to the guys and that was great to watch,” Coltman said. “If you’ve been following Jack’s progress recently, you could see this coming - it’s not a huge surprise.”
Stewart’s bronze medal in the points race was perhaps more surprising than Archibald’s and Carlin’s but it was no less impressive.
Scottish cyclists will be optimistic of contributing considerably to Team Scotland’s medal count in Gold Coast and Coltman has few doubts that they will be at their very best in Australia. “What makes them so good is the way they take the races by the scruff of the neck,” he said. “Their ability to be up their ability to be right up their in the fight for medals time and time again is a reflection of how they race. So we’re in a very good place looking towards Gold Coast.”
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