Forres cyclist Lauren Bell has won a silver medal in the team sprint event at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
Great Britain’s Bell, Emma Finucane, and Sophie Capewell finished second, with Germany needing to set a new world record time of 45.848 seconds to retain their status as champions.
In the final, GB finished less than a tenth of a second adrift of the Germans (45.923 seconds), with Bell and her teammates’ time also under the previous world record.
The trio had already set new British record (46.072 seconds) during qualification, before finishing second-fastest over four heats in round one to set up the race for gold against Germany.
Bell, who started the race for Great Britain, said: “I was a bit off what I should be and I felt like I let the team down a bit.
“I just tried to deliver Sophie (Capewell) to her lap and I gave it my all.”
Finucane added: “We are super happy with our performance because we got bronze last year and it is really exciting especially to smash our national record by half a second and be able to repeat that in the final.
“There is still a year to go until Paris and to be so close to the Germans is amazing. There is so much more to come from us.”
Evans misses out on bronze despite fast start
Meanwhile, Neah Evans, who is from Cuminestown near Turriff, missed out on a bronze in the individual pursuit after being pipped to the medal by Bryony Botha of New Zealand, who finished with a time of 3 minutes and 22.210 seconds.
Evans made a quick start and had stormed into a 1.8 second lead over the opening 2km, but Botha made good progress in the last 1km to claim her place on the podium.
The 33-year old Scot had qualified for the bronze medal race after shaving almost two seconds off her personal best during qualification.
Evans will be back in action later in the championships to defend her world title in the points race.
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