Cycling: GB survive Barker scare to capture pursuit gold

Great Britain’s women flirted with failure before securing gold in the team pursuit on day two of the Track World Championships.

Joanna Rowsell, Laura Trott, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker won Britain’s sixth women’s team pursuit world title out of seven and a first gold of the World Championships in Cali, Colombia, ahead of Canada.

The victory – in four minutes 23.407 seconds to the Canadian quartet’s 4min 24.696sec – was so nearly denied as Barker’s legs gave up on the final lap, with Trott fearing a collision that would have ended with half the British team sprawled on the track.

“At the end Elinor changed down the straight and I hadn’t actually made it back on yet,” said Trott, who, like Rowsell celebrated a fourth world title in the team event.

“I was shouting because I thought if she turned any quicker she’d take me out and then it’d be game over if I take her down.”