Katie Archibald a bolt out of the blue

Scottish sensation is an inspiration for all those fed up with being stuck in an office

Katie Archibald (Getty Images)

Katie Archibald breaks the mould of a British cyclist. It is not so much the facial piercings or the occasionally home-dyed hair, nor her blog, as colourful as it is. It is in the path she has taken to get to the top of the sport.

When Britain’s cyclists blazed a trail at London 2012, Archibald was watching at home. She hadn’t even registered as a blip on British Cycling’s radar.

Where the likes of Lizzie Armitstead and Joanna Rowsell were plucked by talent ID programmes, Archibald caught the cycling hierarchy completely unaware when she burst on to the scene to become individual pursuit champion at the British Junior Championships in the weeks after those Games.

There had been no development programme for her; instead she was working in a small sales office selling mattresses, mulling over the possibility of going to university to study French and Spanish.

But then cycling happened and she stumbled upon the realisation that she had a natural talent for it.

“It’s funny but everyone has a different story,” she says. “Dani King says how she always wanted to be Olympic champion. But I only got into the sport for fun as I loved racing at the weekends. Even when I made it on to the British programme I never had the thought in my mind about the Olympics. Maybe it was naivety on my part or just being youthful, I don’t know.”

There are very clear crossroads in her nascent career, the first being those British juniors in 2012 – the year this latecomer to cycling first started taking the track seriously; the second being her call-up to the British team pursuit line-up for the 2013 European Championships.

“I was just happy to float along and go to university, more for the lifestyle than the education,” she admits. “I was working in internet sales when told I was going to the European Championships.”

In the space of two months, she had quit her job at an office where her mother and brother still work, and turned down a place to study languages in Glasgow, which paid off with gold in Apeldoorn.

More golds followed in quick succession in 2014: at the World Championships in Cali and twice at the Europeans. And there was also a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in her home country.

Hers has been a meteoric rise, although she does not necessarily see it that way: “I’ve not really thought about it, as the opportunities have come up quite quickly and so you’re always looking to the next goal. It’s just each day as it comes.”

That said, her first day in the office, as it were, at the velodrome in Manchester remains fresh in the memory, the contrast between then and now stark. “Joining the team pursuit set-up was like that first day at school but I feel so at home now,” she explains. “It’s strange that I no longer idolise Laura Trott, as I see her every day. She’s one of those everyday heroes, I guess.”

It has helped that she slotted into a new-look team pursuit line-up with another rookie Elinor Barker – the pair are house-mates in Manchester, along with another of Britain’s up-and-coming cyclists, Dani Khan.

While most 20-somethings might be pondering their weekend nights out, this is a house awash with lycra and scuffed walls from their litany of bikes. “Ours is definitely not a party house,” she says with a laugh. “I’m not sure our neighbours were that happy when they saw four 18-year-olds, as it was then, moving in. But I’d say they’re more rockers than us. With us, it’s all about early nights and porridge for breakfast.”

Expectation on Archibald, Barker and the rest of the team pursuit line-up is high at this week’s World Championships in Paris. Britain’s women have not lost an event on the global stage for four years.

For the newcomers, it is a bit of a millstone around the neck, as Archibald explains: “It’s a topic that comes up a lot and it makes you wonder whether you get a loss out of the way. But it’s just we’re not okay in coming second, whatever the line-up is; it’s been on a roll and that’s all down to the programme really.”

In the build-up to such major competitions, there are those in the GB set-up that relish every moment of training. Archibald’s TP team-mate Rowsell is one such figure, as was Victoria Pendleton before her in the sprint programme.

But not so Archibald. “Training is a means to an end for me,” she admits. “I’ve never had empathy for people that love training. I love racing, that’s why I do it.”

She is targeting another rainbow jersey in the team pursuit and potentially the individual pursuit. The likelihood is that the Scot will come away from Paris with at least one gold. And it will be celebrated in the same way as any other – with cheesecake and a card from her granny.