Dan Bigham breaks British record for men's individual pursuit at National Track Championships

Dan Bigham has set a new national record in the men's individual pursuit at the British National Track Championships, with a time of 4-05.274.

Contested over 4km, Bigham beat John Archibald's 2019 record of 4-09.584 by four seconds to set the new British record in the individual pursuit. The 30-year-old achieved the feat during the heats of the event at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales on Friday, riding at an average speed of 58.709km/h. 

Bigham now faces Charlie Tanfield in the final of the individual pursuit at the Championships, and will secure his sixth national title if he crosses the finish line first. The Newcastle-born rider previously won the individual pursuit in 2017, alongside the kilo and team pursuit. He then won the team pursuit again in both 2019 and 2020.

However, Tanfield's heat time of 4-08.953 suggests he won't be an easy opponent, especially considering he would've set a new national record if it wasn't for Bigham's superb performance. Tanfield is an individual pursuit Commonwealth Games gold medal holder and previously won the event at the nationals in 2018 at Bigham's expense.

The pair will do battle for the coveted red, white and blue national champions' jerseys on Friday night at the velodrome in Newport. 

This achievement means Bigham has set two national records in the space of just five months, with his individual pursuit coming after he clocked a distance of 54.723 kilometres to break Bradley Wiggins' British national Hour Record, in October 2021.  

Bigham joined Ineos Grenadiers at the start of 2022 as a Performance Engineer, where he is helping to bring Formula 1 engineering to the British team, while also riding time trials for them too. 

The British National Track Championships started on March 3, and runs until March 6. The event finishes on Sunday with the men's keirin, men's scratch race, and women's team sprint, after four action-packed days of track cycling.