James leads dominant Great Britain to top of Minsk medal table with two golds
|
Becky James survived on adrenalin to win a second stunning gold medal of the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships within 24 hours in Minsk and cap a stellar showing from Great Britain.
Becky James survived on adrenalin to win a second stunning gold medal of the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships within 24 hours in Minsk and cap a stellar showing from Great Britain.
Britain defied a London 2012 hangover to finish top of the medal table with five gold medals, with James the undoubted star.
The 21-year-old from Abergavenny became the first Briton to win four medals at a single World Championships with victory in the women's Keirin on the fifth and final day.
Golden girl: Becky James celebrated her second win at the Track Cycling World Championships
Winner: James with her keirin gold medal
James won her maiden senior World Championships title on day four in the women's sprint and had a fitful night's sleep as she tried to come to terms with her triumph.
Further success followed as James claimed her second gold, to add to two bronze medals won in the opening two days of competition. She finished with the same medal haul as fourth-placed France.
'After last night, I woke up this morning and I should've been tired, but I wasn't tired at all,' said James, who got "a couple of hours' sleep".
Decorated: James won four medals in Belarus
Champion: James won the women's sprint earlier in the week and was too good in the keirin on Sunday
'I was just trying to lie in the dark. My room-mate, Vicky Williamson, she was racing today as well.
'I was just tossing and turning, replaying the day in my head and trying not to think about it and trying to get to sleep for today's racing.
'I just thought 'this is the last day, get everything out'. I really did. I got every little bit out of my legs.'
The physical toll from five days' of racing, which began with team sprint bronze with 19-year-old debutant Williamson on Wednesday's opening day and was followed by 500metres time-trial bronze on day two, was the main indication of her success.
'I feel like it's a complete dream apart from the pain in my legs,' she added. 'Two gold medals!'
First to the finish: James led from the front in her keirin victory
James entered her third senior World Championships targeting top-eight finishes in each of her four events.
Her Keirin triumph was full of class.
Leading from the front in the event which begins behind a motorised Derny bike, James fought off repeated attacks to cross the line first before, as she did on day four, celebrating with her grandparents Kathleen and Ioan James.
Cuba's Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez was second with Gong Jinjie of China third, while Germany's Kristina Vogel crashed out.
'After the second round I was feeling it in my legs and I really struggled getting up from the back,' James said.
'I just thought if I can get to the front, they're all going to have to come round me.
'It just worked out so well. I was in so much pain, but I just pushed and pushed and I finished in the front.'
Podium: Laura Trott won silver behind USA's Sarah Hammer while Australian Annette Edmondson came third
Happy: Trott with her silver medal in Minsk
The World Championships are taking place without two of the great female sprinters - the now retired Victoria Pendleton and Australia's Anna Meares, who is taking a sabbatical - with James filling the void.
James, girlfriend of Wales rugby union wing George North, won two junior world titles in 2009 and now has two senior titles. Pendleton won nine and three times won three medals at one championships, most recently in 2009, but never did she win four.
Meares won four in Melbourne last April and was challenged by an 18-year-old James at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
James won silver, but has only belatedly recovered her form after appendicitis and an Achilles injury which meant she was not in contention for London 2012.
In hindsight, James admits missing the Games was a blessing.
'I'm reaping the benefits now,' said James, who watched Hoy win the Keirin in the London 2012 Velodrome.
Second best: Trott was forced to settle for silver as Hammer gained a measure of revenge for the Olympics
Hammer time: The American Hammer (right) extended her lead to an unassailable six points
Britain finished the first World Championships on the road to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with gold medals for the women's team pursuit squad of Laura Trott, Dani King and Elinor Barker, Jason Kenny in the men's Keirin and Simon Yates in the men's points race, to go with James' double.
Olympic champion Trott had to settle for silver in defence of her women's omnium title as London 2012 runner-up Sarah Hammer claimed her second gold.
The United States' Hammer had a five-point overnight lead, which she increased to six entering the last of six disciplines, the 500metres time-trial.
Trott's Achilles heel remains the points race and, unlike in Melbourne and London, she was unable to respond to win gold.
Small gains: Trott (left) was third overnight and was able to improve to silver medal position today
Not quite: But she didn't quite have enough to overhaul Hammer's large lead
'I normally leave it to the 500m,' Trott said.
'I came here hoping I wouldn't do that. The points race let me down again. She beat me by seven places in the points race and overall by four.'
Britain's Simon Yates and Owain Doull were 11th in the Madison, won by France's Vivien Brisse and Morgan Kneisky, while Stefan Botticher won the men's sprint.
The German fell into the repechage on day four after being beaten by Kenny, but the Olympic champion was eliminated and Botticher seized his second chance, beating Russia's Denis Dmitriev in the final.
Mirror woman: Trott rounds the bend in the flying lap leg of the omnium race
Out in front: Britain's Becky James (leading) made it through to the final of the women's keirin on Sunday morning
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2283670/Track-Cyling-World-Championships-Becky-James-wins-second-gold-keirin-Laura-Trott-takes-omnium-silver.html#ixzz2LvHJOJiL
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
