Great Britain’s team pursuit world title defence ends with crash in qualifying

Charlie Tanfield slipped coming out of the final corner at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome as Great Britain failed to set an official time

Ian Parker
Thursday 03 August 2023 17:14 BST
Comments
(PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Great Britain’s defence of their men’s team pursuit world title ended in a crash in qualifying at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow on Thursday morning.

Charlie Tanfield slipped coming out of the final corner at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, and with Britain already down to three riders at that point they did not set an official time and went out of the competition.

Britain had been on course for the second fastest qualifying time behind Denmark and a ticket to the medal rounds prior to the incident.

Tanfield had come into the line up as a replacement for Ethan Hayter, who is out of these championships having been unable to recover from a broken collarbone in time, and had been struggling to hold the wheel of Dan Bigham and Ethan Vernon as they upped the pace in the finale.

As he fought to catch back up Tanfield, part of the GB squad that won the team pursuit world title in 2018, dropped his front wheel onto the blue band at the bottom of the track and lost control.

The 26-year-old received medical treatment on the track for several minutes before being able to walk off unassisted.

An update from British Cycling said: “Following his crash in this morning’s men’s team pursuit qualification, Charlie Tanfield was assessed immediately by the on-site medical team before being taken to hospital for further treatment.

“We wish Charlie a very speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on his bike soon. Unfortunately, the men’s team pursuit riders will not progress in the competition.”

Jody Cundy later became the second British para-cyclist to set a new world record at these Championships as he clocked a time of 10.427 seconds in the men’s C4 omnium flying 200 metres.

Cundy’s focus in Glasgow is Friday’s kilo as he eyes a remarkable 14th consecutive world title, but he called Thursday’s record-breaking ride a “nice little surprise” as he chases points to help Britain qualify more riders for next summer’s Paralympics in Paris.

“I’ve been struggling to find a bit of speed lately but also I don’t get to do this event that often,” the 44-year-old said. “It was quite frustrating watching last year’s omnium and thinking I quite fancy a 200.

“I’m doing it this year to do a bit of points scoring. It’s a great opportunity to find a bit of speed and open up the legs before tomorrow. And a world record, I can’t complain.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in