Wise words from British coach Shane Sutton to defending sprint world champion Victoria Pendleton.(Image credit: Gerry McManus)
The Great Britain team pursuit rode to silver(Image credit: Guy Swarbrick)
Laura Trott (Great Britain) wins the individual pursuit in the omnium(Image credit: Guy Swarbrick)
Jason Kenny (Great Britain) in the men's sprint(Image credit: Guy Swarbrick)
Despite missing out on a gold medal at the Track World Championships for the first time in 14 years, Great Britain's technical director Shane Sutton is confident of a strong showing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Acknolweding that gold medal success at the next Olympics "would not be easy", Sutton explained that the squad is on the right track.
"I know that we're competitive in probably seven medal events in track," Sutton told BBC Sport. "We raised the bar in this sport, and it's difficult to keep surpassing that."
"We're doing all in our power [and] we know we can lead these guys into a successful Rio. We know where we are and we know what's needed."
Great Britain's three medals came in the team pursuits and women's omnium via Laura Trott. Down on last year's haul of one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in Cali.
"I think it's just a matter of us going back, looking at our detail, galvanising as a unit and driving this big juggernaut back into London and hopefully get a really good Worlds and bounce off that into the Games," Sutton added.
Missing from the Paris squad was Becky James, a two time gold medallist from the 2013 worlds, who continues to recover from a knee injury that also saw her miss the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"If Becky comes back, then yes, the gap [to the rest of the world] is doable," Sutton added. "At this moment in time, without Becky, the gap's not closable."
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Sutton added that with the team still in transition after the retirements of Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, new younger riders need time to develop.
"That's where we're very short, I make no bones about that, we are very short and there needs a massive paradigm shift there and I don't know how we're going to do it," he said. "Give us a chance to develop them, we need time with these kids and I just want everybody to get behind them and support them.
"I'll take the criticisms, but it was a golden era, wasn't it?"
While traditional rivals, and Sutton's home country, Australia topped the medal tally with 11, it was France claiming the most gold medals with five which Sutton put down to Parisian support.
"You look at the French here, they've just turned it right on, that goes down to that home advantage as well," he said. "The Dutch, every other nation's got something out of this, so from my perspective everyone's moving on, I still believe we're competitive."
One factor that Sutton believes will lift the performance of the squad is the return of Bradley Wiggins ahead of the Rio games.
"The sport is about iconic figures and there's no one bigger than Brad. It would be great."
