Golden Worlds for GB Juniors

Despite only traveling to Aguascalientes with four riders, the British Junior Track Squad have returned home with seven medals.

Chris Lyte was the star of the championships, part of the victorious Team Sprint squad with Dave Daniell and Pete Mitchell, he then went on to claim an emphatic victory in the Keirin ahead of Daniell who took the silver medal.

World Junior Team Sprint and Keirin Champion Chris Lyte

Unfortunately Chris failed to equal Jason Kenny’s 2006 triple medal haul when he lost out to France’s Thierry Jollet in the Sprint final, but the championships saw Lyte demonstrate his true potential, which has previously eluded him.

Along with Daniell he will now progress to the Olympic Academy Programme in which these exciting new prospects will be allowed to develop their abilities even further. When you consider the fact that both riders recorded 200m time trial times of 10.5 seconds, good enough for a top fifteen finishing place at the recent Manchester World Cup, it all bodes well for the future of British Cycling.

World Junior Team Sprint Champion and Keirin Silver Medallist David Daniell

Making their debuts at the World Championships were Peter Mitchell and Jessica Varnish. The former walked away with a rainbow banded jersey following the British trio’s victory over France in the Team Sprint final. Mitchell then proved he not only is an integral part of the Sprint team but he also has potential for the individual sprint.

World Junior Team Sprint Champion and Sprint Bronze Medallist Peter Mitchell, Copyright: Mike Anton

Perhaps surprising given his results earlier in the season Pete recorded a fantastic 200m time of 10.6s and went on to win the Bronze medal after some extremely impressive riding.

Mitchell now returns to the Olympic Development Programme, as unlike Daniell and Lyte he has another year under the tutorage of Iain Dyer alongside riders such as Tom Buck and Steve Hill.

Britain’s sole female representative in Mexico was Jessica Varnish, who was also making her World Championships debutant, although if her performances were anything to go by you wouldn’t think it.

Despite finishing fifth in the 200m Time Trial with a time of 11.6 seconds Varnish easily progressed through the rounds, beating Germany’s Team Sprint World Champion Sabine Bretschneider in the Quarter Finals.

World Junior Sprint Silver Medallist Jess Varnish

In the Semis Jess had the daunting task of facing the fastest qualifier Monique Sullivan of Canada, however Varnish produced a fantastic ride to make it into the final, where she faced Bretschneider’s fellow Team Sprint World Champion Kristina Vogel.

The final was an extremely close affair with Vogel beating the European Keirin Champion in two straight heats that both had to be decided by the Photo Finish.

Unfortunately for Varnish her favourite event, the 500m Time Trial was scheduled for the same session as the Sprint finals so she had to contest that event aswell. However she still produced a strong ride to finish fourth overall with an impressive time of 35.983s to finish fourth. A visibly tired Varnish then finished 12^th in the Keirin on the final day of racing.

British Cycling’s faith in Jess was demonstrated when she was selected for the ODP a year early and with another year still on the programme, who knows what the future will bring for the rider widely regarded as the next Victoria Pendleton.

In a rare event nowadays the Great British team did not finish top of the medal table in an international track event, due to the small amount of riders sent to Mexico. Keeping this position warm for GB was Australia who won seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals.