Katie Archibald secured Great Britain's first gold medal of the 2017 UEC European Track Championships on Friday, successfully defending her title in the individual pursuit.
The 23-year-old delivered her best ever time to set the fastest qualifying mark in the Berlin velodrome and then faced off against Poland's Justyna Kaczkowska in the final. Kaczkowska led after a kilometre but Archibald pulled back even and then surged away to take the win over the ensuing two kilometres. Her time of 3:29.328 earned her a second medal this week after she nabbed silver in the team pursuit.
"Today I've had all the wins. I've beaten myself, I've beaten everyone else. I'll sleep happy," Archibald said.
"I went into qualifying with modest ambition, and suddenly by the time the final came around we are back to having high expectations and I thought 'it's all going to go wrong.'
"We have our coaches in the last kilometre telling you whether you're up or down and I think if you're down your head goes, and I think that's what happened to her. I've been in that position myself so it's nice to be on this side of it."
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