Double sprint gold for Danni Khan at junior worlds
17 year-old sprinter Danni Khan provided Great Britain's standout performance at the junior track world championships in Glasgow last week with two golds and one silver from the home nation's total haul of six medals.
Khan added the individual sprint at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome to her 500m time trial title she won earlier in the week, beating Belgium's Nick Degrendele in three rounds.
She then narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of rainbow jerseys on Sunday, coming second in the keirin to French rider Melissandre Pain.
Khan was the only sprint athlete to contest the championships as coaches
felt the ODP's other sprinters would not be competitive enough to
benefit from the experience of the event.
Nevertheless in becoming double world junior champion, the Solihull-based Khan more than justified her selection and emulated the current double senior world champion Becky James, who took two junior titles in 2009.
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"I'm very happy with her performance this week," said Olympic Development Programme (ODP) sprint coach Jon Norfolk. "Both on the track, in terms of securing what she's capable of, and off the track she [Khan] has been very professional; she's recovered and reset herself for each goal. I think it's a good situation to be in for the future."
Following their gold medal ride in the team pursuit, Hayley Jones and Emily Kay added two bronze medals in the points race and omnium respectively, while Ollie Wood finished fourth in the men's omnium to cap a pleasing week for the riders and staff on the Olympic Development Programme (ODP).
"On the whole its been a good week," said junior endurance coach Matt Winston. "Gold in the team pursuit was a really good result for the girls; that's what we base our training around so it was good to get a good run out in that.
"I think the lads have been unlucky this week, fourth in the team pursuit and fourth in the omnium. Although the boys haven't won any medals they've still had some good performances in there."
With three gold, one silver and two bronze medals Great Britain finished second in the medal table behind Australia (six gold, two silver and five bronze) and ahead of Germany (three gold, one silver and one bronze).
Related links
Two golds for Great Britain at junior track worlds
Great Britain fourth in men's team pursuit at junior track worlds
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Richard Abraham is an award-winning writer, based in New Zealand. He has reported from major sporting events including the Tour de France and Olympic Games, and is also a part-time travel guide who has delivered luxury cycle tours and events across Europe. In 2019 he was awarded Writer of the Year at the PPA Awards.
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