Welsh sprinter Becky James has claimed Great Britain’s first medal of the Junior World Track Championships in Moscow, taking second place in the women’s 500m TT on the event’s opening night.

The 17-year-old clocked 35.784 to take second place behind Tianshi Zong of China. However, it could have been gold for the youngster.

Olympic Development Programme performance director Helen Mortimer explained: “Apparently she got caught up in the gate and lost a bit of time there. She was a bit disappointed when she finished, but it was a good performance.”

James’s time was half a second slower than her gold-winning European championship effort. She was one of the British success stories from the recent championships in Minsk, also taking first place in the women’s sprint.

She will have more opportunities to take medals in the sprint and keirin on Friday and Saturday evening.

The men’s sprint team’s also had their first outing last night, finishing seventh in the team sprint.

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