Katie Archibald’s mesmeric form shows no signs of slowing down after once again celebrating World Cup gold with victory in the points race in Canada.
The 23-year-old has been the one to watch every time she has taken to the start line this year, victorious in the team pursuit and Madison in Manchester while also securing Omnium silver.
So when it came to the third round of the series in Milton – a track making its debut at world-class level – it was almost written in the stars for Archibald to stand top of the pile.
The men’s and women’s team sprint squads also qualified comfortably for the first round of competition, but this was a day that belonged to Archibald. Dominant from start to finish, the Scot won the first four sprints of the race to put herself comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.
Archibald then took a lap all on her own to quash any doubt of her medal desires, picking up points in the fifth, sixth and penultimate sprints to make the closing stages almost a formality.
And with her rivals unable to take a lap on the Olympic champion, Archibald even allowed herself a final sprint without points to secure the win, with home favourite Jasmin Duehring taking silver.
Meanwhile Stewart ended his year-long barren run without a World Cup medal in impressive fashion with his own strong performance in the points race.
After a single point in the opening sprint, the scoring dried up until winning the fifth and claiming three points on the following sprint to move into medal contention.
Denmark’s Niklas Larsen broke away to seal a lap and all but claim gold, but Stewart was not done there – taking points in the eighth and ninth sprints.
And the medal was all but sealed with three points in the penultimate sprint, holding off Kenny de Ketele to deservingly take his place on the podium.
Elsewhere the team sprint squads showed their mettle to take their places in the weekend’s action, with a busy agenda on the British minds across both Saturday and Sunday. Pic: SWpix.com Sportsbeat 2017