Cycling-Barker lands belated gold for Britain in Berlin

Elinor Barker rode to the rescue of British track cycling once again, landing gold with a sensational ride in the points race on the final day of the world championships on Sunday. Track powerhouse nation Britain had endured a worrying championships, seen as a dress rehearsal for this year's Tokyo Olympics, with only three medals, none gold, over the first four days, leaving them 10th in the medals table.

However, Welsh rider Barker produced a superb late solo attack in the 25km event to gain a lap on her rivals, securing a crucial 20 points that fired her to the top of the leaderboard. American Jennifer Valente, part of the gold-medal winning team pursuit squad, had looked on course for another title but did not have enough laps left to launch a counter-attack and had to settle for the silver.

Norway's Anita Yvonne Stenberg was third. Dutch veteran Kirstin Wild, bidding for a third gold of the week, was well placed in third spot but a crash scuppered her chances of adding to her haul.

Last year in Poland, Barker was the saving grace for the British team, delivering the only gold in the scratch race. The 25-year-old was part of the team crushed by the United States in the team pursuit final earlier this week and finished a disappointing sixth in the Madison on Saturday when team mate Neah Evans was involved in a crash.

She was ecstatic 24 hours later though, even if acknowledging that points race is not at Olympic discipline. "It's still incredible," she said, adding that in her audacious late attack she had emptied the tank.

"I wanted to have some more energy to at least get involved in another sprint after I got a lap, but I had absolutely nothing left. I was seeing stars by the end," she said. Barker, an Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit in Rio, ensured Britain bagged at least one gold medal from the championships, as she did last year in the scratch race.

The last time Britain did not win a world gold was in 2015.