Anna Morris pips team-mate Josie Knight to retain individual pursuit world title

Welsh cyclist Anna Morris defended her individual pursuit title at the UCI World Track Championships with victory over Great Britain team-mate Josie Knight as Katie Archibald and Maddie Leech won gold in the Madison.

Archibald, who won the Madison world title in 2018 alongside Emily Nelson and claimed gold at the Tokyo Olympics alongside Laura Kenny, helped Leech claim a second medal in Santiago after she was part of the team pursuit squad that won bronze.

Scot Archibald, 31, and 22-year-old Leech delivered a dominant performance, picking up points in the first three sprints.

Crash

Archibald took a sprint halfway through the contest to move within two points of the Netherlands, only for the Dutch to be forced out of the race by a heavy crash moments later.

Leech picked up three points to move back into the lead with two sprints to go and the pair kept France at bay over the closing laps.

Britain secured gold and silver in the individual pursuit.

Knight was the fastest qualifier for much of the session after catching her opponent and finishing in 4:25.141.

Dominance 

In the final race of qualifying, Morris posted 4:24.194 to set up an all-British final which the Welsh rider dominated from the outset.

Matt Richardson delivered a strong qualifying time of 9.210 seconds to be seeded first in the men’s sprint.

Richardson defeated Canada’s Nick Wammes in the last 16 and Japan’s Kaiya Ota in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final clash with Australia’s Leigh Hoffman.