CYCLING

Elinor Barker provided an inspirational moment for all new mums when she became a Welsh world champion at the weekend.

The Cardiff cyclist, an Olympic silver medalist, struck gold for Great Britain at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow alongside sister Megan and a third Welsh teammate, Anna Morris.

Barker was appearing at her first global track event since she became a mother after the last Olympics.

She was part of the GB women’s team pursuit who took a magnificent gold medal in a blistering time of 4:08.771, beating New Zealand by over four seconds for the world championship title.

“The chance to win at home is so special and I can’t believe we did it. I rode it with my sister Meg and Anna and I went to school together, so what are the chances of that!” said Barker.

“It just feels all very surreal – the chances of any one of us getting here is so slim and the fact that we’ve all known each other from childhood is just bizarre!

“When you win, it feels like the pain in your legs just disappears somehow. At the time, it was an absolute blur of pain and it was such a relief getting over the line.

“I think this is just such a rare opportunity – the last time we had a home worlds was London, and we missed out then and messed up in the qualifier.”

 

RALLYING

Also dreaming of becoming a Welsh world champion this year is rallying star Elfyn Evans.

He enjoyed a great weekend and reduced the deficit at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ standings from 55 to 25 points after winning Rally Finland.

The Dolgellau ace seized his chance when arch rival and Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanperä crash out – winning the event outright and also taking maximum bonus points for setting the fastest time on the closing Power Stage.

Evans also becomes only the third driver from outside Finland to win the event on multiple occasions as he and co-driver Scott Martin repeated their 2021 triumph.

“It’s been a great weekend for us and it feels pretty special to win this rally for the second time,” said Evans.

“It’s one of my favourites and a home rally for the team with the factory being based in Jyväskylä.

“It’s been fantastic to drive this car on these roads and it’s been a joy to be behind the wheel. We had a really nice feeling almost from the beginning.

“Things really clicked and the stage times came naturally. It’s a positive weekend in terms of the championship as well and we’re now a bit closer to Kalle than we were before.”

 

NETBALL

Wales finished their Netball World Cup campaign by claiming ninth place with a convincing win over Scotland.

Shooters Georgia Rowe and Phillipa Yarranton put in impressive displays as the Scots were beaten, 57-42 in Cape Town.

It means Wales return from South Africa with a place in the world’s top 10, an achievement skipper Nia Jones says they can be proud of.

Jones said: “Full credit to Scotland, we played them a few times over the last couple of years and it is always super competitive.

“We are two really evenly matched teams and it is about who performs better on the day to take it.

“I’m proud of how we turned the screw in that second half.”