Bell and Richardson seal hat-trick of sprint titles

Lauren Bell and Matthew Richardson completed a hat-trick of sprint medals on the final day of the British Track Cycling Championships in Manchester.

Scotland’s Bell won the women’s individual sprint to go with her team sprint and keirin victories, while England’s Richardson won the men’s keirin to complete the men’s sprinting set.

Bell said: “Nationals are always such a great event – there’s always sold-out crowds. It’s nice to have my family in the crowd to cheer me on, it’s great.

“I knew I had good legs coming in. I’ve got the speed and I’ve started to develop the tactics now. I tried to take each race as it came, and this is the result.”

Richardson was making his debut at the event having switched allegiance to Great Britain after collecting two silver medals and a bronze for Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“I set this as one of my goals,” he said. “I knew I was capable of it, but doing it and saying it are two completely different things, so I’m just really relieved and happy that I can go out there and achieve my goals.”

Katie Archibald, competing at the championships for the first time in six years, stormed to a dominant victory in the women’s points race.

The two-time Olympic champion took maximum points from five of the eight sprints and gained a lap on the field to finish on 47 points, 37 clear of Danielle Watkinson and Cat Ferguson, who took silver and bronze respectively.

“I’m very happy about a plan well executed. The fact I’ve been away for so long has made me very motivated for the nationals,” said Archibald.

“I’m the person that people want to beat, but it’s still nice to be surrounded by that mentality and take a buoy from being a part of that.”

Elsewhere, Noah Hobbs won the men’s scratch race ahead of defending champion Sam Fisher and William Gilbank.

In the Para-cycling events, Samuel Davies, Rebecca Newark and Jacob Smith took gold in the mixed C team sprint, while Sophie Unwin, Jenny Holl, James Ball and Steffan Lloyd claimed victory in the mixed B team sprint final.