Mixed day for British cyclists at European Championships as 15-year-old diver joins Jack Laugher to take gold

Laura Kenny finished fourth in her final, but 15-year-old Eden Cheng, Lois Toulson and Jack Laugher took diving gold

Laura Kenny has emerged from Glasgow with renewed confidence that she can still compete at the highest level despite missing out on a hat-trick of gold medals at the European Championships.

Barely a year on from giving birth to her first child, Albie, Kenny was back in action at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and proving she is still one of the best track cyclists around.

She won gold in the team pursuit and elimination races earlier in the week but could not make it a clean sweep after she and Katie Archibald finished fourth in the final of the madison.

The pair had looked well placed at the halfway stage, but Denmark stormed clear after taking a lap with Russia, leaving Great Britain unable to reel them in and having to settle for fourth place.

“I think they (the championships) have moved me on,” the four-time Olympic gold medallist said. “I wouldn’t have known where I was if I hadn’t put it on the line.

“I think it was always going to be hard as everybody expects me to win even though I had a baby a year ago, but I am glad I put it on the line because it has given me confidence and hopefully it will be an upwards slope from here.”

Despite her success in previous events, Kenny could not hide that she was disappointed with how the final race went as a succession of sloppy changeovers looked to cost the pair time.

“We made a lot of mistakes and in events like that you can’t do that,” she admitted. “You’re on the back foot from the word go, and once we let that group go we weren’t ever going to get back. “I think it’s promising in a way that we have stuff to work on still.”

There was some British success on the final afternoon of the track cycling in Glasgow however, with Matthew Walls stunning the field to claim gold in the men’s elimination race, before Jack Carlin took bronze in the men’s keirin.

The 20-year-old Walls was happy to lead from the front throughout the race and did not let up in his pace, eventually storming home for a comfortable victory over Portugal’s Rui Olivieira.

It left the Oldham-born rider to describe it as the best moment of his fledgling career. ”It’s at the top,” he admitted. “It’s my first major championships and to get the win is just mega, I’m really happy with it.”

Laugher made light work of the competition (Getty)

Britain’s divers enjoyed a triumphant day with Olympic champion Jack Laugher leading a double success at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool.

Laugher again demonstrated why he is the most successful British diver in history as he took their first European gold in the one metre springboard event while never having to produce anything like his best.

His predictable win followed a rather less expected victory for the new British pairing of Lois Toulson and 15-year-old Eden Cheng, who took the synchronised 10m platform title in dramatic fashion.

In only their second competition together, the pair had been lying fifth with two rounds left only to produce two magnificent dives to shoot into the gold medal position as their opponents faltered.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting this, we’ve only been put together this year so we’re both really happy,” said Toulson, a relative veteran at 18 compared to Cheng, who was striking gold at the equivalent junior event this time last year.

“I’m lost for words. Lois kept me going out there,” said Cheng. “I was nervous throughout before and didn’t even know the score until Lois told me we’d won.”

Agencies