Dani King says the world record-breaking British women’s team pursuit want to be as fast as the men and on the evidence of the opening Track World Cup of the season her wish might just come true.
King helped clock 4:19.604minutes around the Manchester velodrome as the home team broke their world record from qualifying in the new four-rider, 4000-metre format and that would not have been too out of place in the men’s qualifying.
China’s men finished last with a time of 4:19.557 at the Track World Cup and with the British quartet promising further improvement the men will have to look over their shoulder.
“We are getting closer to men’s teams in the world,” said an elated King, who went straight from the gold medal pursuit run to compete in the women’s 4000-metre scratch race.
“We were discussing this with the British lads before. We were sat in the riders lounge chatting and we said ‘how fast do you reckon we can go?’ and they were like ‘you’ll never get anywhere near us.’
“You know we’re not going to get near the British men soon but hopefully we can learn off them, it’s great to have them around. We benefit off them and hopefully we will keep getting faster and faster.”
Britain’s men pedalled round in 3:58.654 to land the first gold medal of the meet, so King knows the women have a long way to go.
Nevertheless the team of King, Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell and Elinor Barker provided Friday’s highlight for the raucous home crowd and the team are already looking towards the future.
“We never come in expecting two world records. We just come out and think in the qualifier we need to ride to our schedule,” said King.
“In the final it’s about pushing the boundaries and seeing how fast we can go. It’s just a bonus that we’ve come away with two world records.”
© Sportsbeat 2013