Walls wins omnium bronze for GB

Matt Walls won Great Britain’s third medal of the Track World Championships in Berlin with bronze in the omnium

Matt Walls delivered Britain’s third medal of the Track Cycling World Championships with bronze in the men’s omnium in Berlin on Saturday.

Walls put in a huge attack alongside Australian Cameron Meyer in the closing points race, gaining a lap on the field to vault up the rankings and earn his first career World Championship medal.

The medal was a welcome boost to the Great Britain team after a crash had ended the hopes of Elinor Barker and Neah Evans in the women’s madison, leaving Britain still searching for their first gold medal of this week’s event going into the final day on Sunday.

Elinor Barker and Neah Evans finished outside of the medal places in the madison after being involved in a crash

“The crash was partly my fault,” Evans said. “There was a change but I didn’t see it until the last minute. By then I’d committed to coming over with a lot of speed and I hoped to be able to push them off a little bit but… yeah. The madison is absolute mayhem.”

With six-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny and Jack Carlin suffering early exits in the men’s individual sprint, Britain’s haul of two silvers and a bronze so far leaves them with work to do to avoid this being their worst World Championship medal haul in an Olympic year since 1996.

Britain have not failed to win a gold medal at a World Championships in an Olympic year since 1992, but have only three opportunities left – in the men’s madison, women’s points race and women’s keirin.