GLASGOW: Great Britain’s defence of their men’s team pursuit world title ended in a crash in qualifying at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow on Thursday.

Charlie Tanfield slipped coming out of the final corner at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, and with the home nation already down to three riders at that point they did not set an official time and went out of the competition.

Britain had been on course for the second-fastest qualifying time behind Denmark and a ticket to the medal rounds before the incident.

Tanfield had come into the line-up as a replacement for Ethan Hayter, who is out of the championships having been unable to recover from a broken collarbone in time.

Tanfield had been struggling to hold the wheel of Dan Bigham and Ethan Vernon as they upped the pace in the finale.

As he fought to catch back up, Tanfield dropped his front wheel onto the blue band at the bottom of the track and lost control.

The 26-year-old received medical treatment on the track for several minutes before being able to walk off unassisted.

An update from British Cycling said: “Following his crash in this morning’s men’s team pursuit qualification, Charlie Tanfield was assessed immediately by the on-site medical team before being taken to hospital for further treatment.”

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2023