There was no golden return to the track for Elinor Barker, but there was still a silver lining in Berlin as she helped the British team pursuit team take second place at the UEC European Track Championships in Berlin.

The defending champions from Italy rode off with the gold medal, while Barker, fellow Welsh rider Manon Lloyd, Katie Archibald and Emily Kay had to settle for the runners-up spot on the podium. They managed to go faster than in qualifying, but it wasn’t enough to catch the super-quick Italians.

The gold medal went in 4:17.853 with the British quartet coming home in 4:21.164. For Olympic champion Barker it was a fourth track medal of the year, coming on top of the World title she won in the Points Race and the silver and bronze she took at the same event in the Scratch Race and Madison.

The British team were just ahead at the half-way mark in the 4K event, but couldn’t hang on as the Italians powered their way to victory. To put the winning time in perspective, it was more than seven seconds down on the world record set by the British team in winning in Rio last year.

Barker and Archibald were part of that awesome foursome at the Olympics, joined by Joanna Rowsell-Shand and Laura Trott, when they won in 4:10.236.

For the Carmarthen bred Lloyd, who recently announced she will be joining the Drops Cycling Team next year, it was a step up in class and her silver medal at senior level followed previous golden successes in the Team Pursuit at the European Junior and Under 23 championships.

Elinor Barker’s Senior Championship Medals

2013
European Team Pursuit – Gold
World Team Pursuit – Gold

2014
European Team Pursuit – Gold
World Team Pursuit – Gold
Commonwealth Games Points Race – Silver
Commonwealth Games Scratch Race – Bronze

2015
European Team Pursuit – Gold
World Team Pursuit – Silver

2016
Olympic Games Team Pursuit – Gold
2017
World Points Race – Gold
World Scratch Race – Silver
World Madison – Bronze
European Team Pursuit – Silver