Elinor Barker delivered Great Britain’s first gold medal of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin with victory in Sunday’s women’s points race.
The 25-year-old added a fifth world title to her collection as she twice lapped the field – the second a superb solo effort – to comfortably top the standings by 16 points from American Jennifer Valente.
🌈 WORLD CHAMPION 🌈 🥇 @elinorbarker 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 #Berlin2020 pic.twitter.com/8HbiPH28pU — British Cycling (@BritishCycling) March 1, 2020
Barker was also part of the women’s team pursuit squad that took silver on Thursday, while Britain have also picked up silver in the men’s team sprint and bronze in the men’s omnium so far.
After Valente and Kirsten Wild were part of a group that took an early lap on the field, Barker joined a five-strong counter-attack, making the catch with 60 laps to go.
The winning move then came when Barker attacked again with Alexandra Manly but quickly dropped the Australian to lap the field solo, pushing her well clear of the rest of the field.
“It’s all a bit of blur,” said Barker, who was also points race world champion in Hong Kong in 2017.
“I definitely really wanted to get away. It never really felt like there was a defining attack but at some point I looked around and there were only two or three people there, and then I looked up and there were people all the way up.”
The points race may not be an Olympic event, but this will be a welcome boost for Barker five months out from Tokyo.
“Yeah, it always feels pretty good to be honest. It’s not irrelevant that it’s not an Olympic event, but it doesn’t make it feel any less incredible.”
