Latest news with #KatieArchibald
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Track Champions League axed after four years in cycling calendar shake-up
Track cycling's flagship event, the Track Champions League, has been axed after four years in a surprise move by the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and its broadcaster Warner Bros. Discovery. The league was inaugurated in 2021 as an annual exhibition series of five fast-paced rounds taking place across Europe, with many of the world's top riders taking part in either endurance and sprint categories. The series made tweaks to the Olympic format of some disciplines with the intention of making track cycling appealing to a wider audience, and it drew in large crowds throughout the 2025 edition, with the final round - held at London's Lee Valley velodrome - sold out. The 2024 women's endurance category was won by Scotland's multiple Olympic and world champion Katie Archibald, with Brits Emma Finucane, Matthew Richardson, and Will Perrett all taking individual victories over the course of the series. Last year's edition had no victory ceremony as a crash brought the final round to an abrupt end, with Britain's Katy Marchant flying over the velodrome's protective barrier and suffering two arm fractures. A statement released on Monday said that the broadcaster WBD Sports would 'redefine its involvement in the promotion of track cycling,' with the decision spelling the end for the Track Champions League. The decision comes towards the beginning of a new Olympic cycle, with riders starting down the long road to the Los Angeles Games in 2028. At the same time, the UCI has announced a revamp of the Track Nations Cup, a season-long competition taking place over three rounds and itself a rebrand of the Track Cycling World Cup, which ran until 2021. This year there was only one round, in Konya, Turkey, earlier in March. The competition will be renamed the Track World Cup from 2026, with three rounds each season and points accrued throughout the series determining qualification for the annual World Championships and the Olympics. The decision appears to have been made to streamline the track calendar while maintaining TV coverage, with Warner Bros. Discovery to cover the renamed Track World Cup in place of the Track Champions League, as the UCI seeks to raise the profile of the series and track cycling as a sport. The shelving of the Track Champions League comes during a turbulent time for live coverage of cycling. to broadcast the Tour de France from 2026 means that this year's edition will be the last to have free-to-view coverage. Cycling more broadly has gone behind a more expensive paywall since the dissolution of Eurosport in the UK and move of Eurosport's content to TNT Sports - under the Warner Bros. umbrella - at the end of February, with viewers hit with a 344% price hike.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Archibald seeks reset after 'comedown' of world title
Scotland's Katie Archibald is hoping she finds fresh inspiration in next week's British Track National Championships after global success in 2024 left her feeling flat. The two-time Olympic champion will race in the championships - held in Manchester from 21-23 February - for the first time in six years after a turbulent 2024. The 30-year-old was ruled out of the Paris Olympics after a freak accident at home but bounced back to win her sixth world title in October as part of Great Britain's women's team pursuit. However that victory in Copenhagen did not result in the elation and satisfaction Archibald expected and she took a five-week break - the longest of her career – to assess her career and her goals. "After the Paris Games that I didn't attend I was pinning everything on the worlds, and it was the first time I experienced what's kind of like this ironic comedown after success," she said. "We went to the worlds and defended the team pursuit world title. You leave as world champions, and it was the first time in my career that something like that hadn't acted as a springboard." GB win women's team pursuit gold at World Championships Archibald out of Olympics after freak garden accident Archibald 'happier on the bike' after freak injury Archibald mapped out goals that stretch as far as the 2028 LA Olympics but begins with her first tilt at the nationals since 2019. "I really don't know how this [gap] happened," she added. "You have a view of yourself and one day you wake up and look at the facts and you have to update that. I really saw myself as someone that really loved riding the nationals. "It's my favourite thing to turn up to and it's got this emotional attachment to it. "As an amateur you can turn up at the nationals and beat the best and it's nice to be part of that journey for other people or to defend your stature as somebody who has made it. "The way things have conspired there's always been something else to prioritise but I guess it's a reflection of a good reset to finally be back. "I guess I wanted to reconnect to what it was like before, when this would have been the main goal of my season." British Cycling has decided not to send a women's endurance squad to the Nations Cup in March in Turkey, so Archibald's other big targets for 2025 will be October's World Championships in Santiago, Chile. While the 2028 Olympics is her major ambition, a home Commonwealth Games in 2026 is also high on her agenda. "It is a really exciting thing in my season-planning for the next two years," she said. "It was in 2012 that the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome opened in Glasgow for the 2014 Games, and you can pinpoint easily a lot of the talent that has come out of that facility. "It's quite a nice rounding point for my career, from when I was trying to break into that 2014 team, to still feel quite connected to that naive rider that was there. So that's a big deal for me."
BBC News
13-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Archibald seeks reset after 'comedown' of world title
Scotland's Katie Archibald is hoping she finds fresh inspiration in next week's British Track National Championships after global success in 2024 left her feeling two-time Olympic champion will race in the championships - in Manchester from 21-23 February - for the first time in six years after a turbulent 30-year-old was ruled out of the Paris Olympics after a freak accident at home but bounced back to win her sixth world title in October as part of Great Britain's women's team that victory in Copenhagen did not result in the elation and satisfaction Archibald expected and she a five-week break - the longest of her career – to assess her career and her goals."After the Paris Games that I didn't attend I was pinning everything on the worlds, and it was the first time I experienced what's kind of like this ironic comedown after success," she said."We went to the worlds and defended the team pursuit world title. You leave as world champions, and it was the first time in my career that something like that hadn't acted as a springboard."Archibald mapped out goals that stretch as far as the 2028 LA Olympics but begin with her first tilt at the nationals since 2019. "I really don't know how this [gap] happened," she added."You have a view of yourself and one day you wake up and look at the facts and you have to update that. I really saw myself as someone that really loved riding the nationals."It's my favourite thing to turn up to and it's got this emotional attachment to it. "As an amateur you can turn up at the nationals and beat the best and it's nice to be part of that journey for other people or to defend your stature as somebody who has made it."The way things have conspired there's always been something else to prioritise but I guess it's a reflection of a good reset to finally be back. "I guess I wanted to reconnect to what it was like before, when this would have been the main goal of my season." British Cycling has decided not to send a women's endurance squad to the Nations Cup in March in Turkey, so Archibald's other big targets for 2025 will be October's World Championships in Santiago, the 2028 Olympics is her major ambition, a home Commonwealth Games in 2026 is also high on her agenda."It is a really exciting thing in my season-planning for the next two years," she said. "It was in 2012 that the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome opened in Glasgow for the 2014 Games, and you can pinpoint easily a lot of the talent that has come out of that facility."It's quite a nice rounding point for my career, from when I was trying to break into that 2014 team, to still feel quite connected to that naive rider that was there. So that's a big deal for me."
