Triple gold for Great Britain on final day of Track Worlds

In the women’s tandem sprint, Sophie Thornhill and pilot Rachel James raced to gold, setting a new world-best lap time of 10.854 seconds over 200m in the qualifying round.

The British delegation are leaving the 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships as the team to beat in the sport after winning three of the four races on the final day of the event on Sunday (13 April) in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Great Britain topped the medals table with seven golds at the Championships, while Australia left Aguascalientes with the most overall medals, having made the podium 17 different times.

On the event’s final day, British rider Neil Fachie and pilot Pete Mitchell set a new world record in qualifying for the men’s tandem sprint.

Having produced the first sub-minute tandem kilo in history on Day 2 of the Championships, the duo completed their 200m qualifying flying lap in 9.711 seconds to beat the record set by Britain’s Anthony Kappes and Craig Maclean at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Victories over Greece in the quarter-finals and then Australia’s Paul Kennedy and Thomas Clarke in the semi-finals set up another meeting against Australian opposition for gold in Kieran Modra and Jason Niblett.

A 2-0 victory gave Fachie and Mitchell a perfect end to their Championships, leaving the Australian duo with silver and Spain’s Jose Villanueva Trinidad and Jose Porto Lareo with the bronze.

In the women’s tandem sprint, Sophie Thornhill and pilot Rachel James raced to gold, setting a new world-best lap time of 10.854 seconds over 200m in the qualifying round.

Despite having raced together for just sixth months, they triumphed over Australia’s Brandie O’Connor and Breanna Hargrave in the final.

New Zealand’s Laura Fairweather and Emma Foy took bronze in the event.

Sarah Storey collected her second rainbow jersey in in Aguascalientes with a convincing victory in the women’s scratch race C1-5. The 36-year-old took two laps on the field over the 40 laps with no other rider able to mount a response.

Argentina’s Mariela Delgado finished in silver-medal position, with the USA’s Jennifer Schuble taking bronze.

The men’s scratch race C1-5 was won by 41-year-old Brazilian Soelito Gohr, who finished ahead of Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka and Australia’s Alistair Donohoe.