Bell wins second British track title in 24 hours

Lauren Bell won her second British title inside 24 hours with keirin victory on the last day of the National Track Championships in Manchester.

Bell, a two-time team sprint world medallist, held off a late charge from Rhian Edmunds to narrowly pip her rival to the line.

Later, Jenny Holl followed up Friday’s scratch race title by winning the women’s points race.

That came after Sam Fisher, 17, had won two titles in just a matter of hours.

Having won the men’s team pursuit alongside Will Roberts, William Salter and Finlay Tarling, Fisher then won the 80-lap scratch race after making a break with just a handful of laps to go.

Speaking after his individual win, Wales Racing Academy rider Fisher, who is still studying at sixth form, said: “It’s good, I wasn’t expecting it.

“I came into this with a bit of illness, I got lapped twice in points race qualification [on Saturday], so I came into today not expecting this at all.”

On Saturday, 24-year-old Bell had breezed her way to the women’s sprint national stripes, but came into the keirin “wanting to learn something”.

“Keirin is my weaker event so I thought I’m going to try to do some different things, learn stuff from the racing,” she said.

“I definitely learned that it hurts, but I’m really pleased with the outcome.

“I needed to have a race like this and just enjoy myself, so I feel really refreshed, a mental refresh.

“[There was] no pressure, it doesn’t really matter if you come first or last, just get out there and enjoy riding your bike, because that’s what it’s all about. If you’re happier, you go better.”

Holl was one of three riders to gain a lap in the women’s points race and won the maximum 10 points on the final sprint to leapfrog Kate Richardson into first, finishing the race on 40 points to Richardson’s 34.

It marked a fourth medal of the weekend for 24-year-old Holl, having won two silvers in the tandem races with Sophie Unwin. Together, Holl and Unwin won two medals at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

Elsewhere in the sold-out Sunday session at the National Cycling Centre, Sophie Capewell, Millie Tanner and Georgette Rand won the women’s sprint title, with world sprint champion Emma Finucane racing in qualifying before Capewell came in for the final.

Hayden Norris won the men’s keirin final in a three-man photo finish, nudging in front of Niall Monks and Harvey McNaughton in the tightest of finishes.

James Ball and his sighted pilot Steff Lloyd defeated world champions Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham for gold in the men’s Para B sprint, while Jody Cundy, Blaine Hunt and Matthew Robertson teamed up to win the mixed Para C1-5 team sprint title.