For the first time in two decades, Great Britain did not finish first in the cycling medal table at the Olympic Games.
At Paris 2024, Team GB finished fifth behind France, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States.
Eleven medals were more than any other nation, but this time the colours had changed. Two gold medals represented the lowest number since Athens 2004, before the extraordinary run of success that included eight gold medals in Beijing and London and six each in Rio and Tokyo.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the end of an era because it could easily have been very different,” said Stephen Park, British Cycling’s performance director.
“If you look at all British sport, it is harder to win gold medals now than ever before. The gap between first and fourth place is smaller than ever.”
There were extenuating circumstances. Katie Archibald’s devastating injury in June derailed plans for the women’s endurance team.
For the riders who made it to Paris, stories of disrupted preparations were a recurring theme: Jack Carlin’s broken ankle, Evie Richards’ concussion, Kye Whyte’s back, Lizzie Deignan’s medical emergency, Neah Evans’ illness with the Epstein-Barr virus… the list goes on.
But that moment has been brewing. Park warned of increasing competition in Tokyo, but three years ago Team GB managed to diversify and lean on the new BMX disciplines to stay ahead – taking two golds, a silver and a bronze medal in racing and freestyle.
There was no repeat in Paris. Kieran Reilly won silver in freestyle, but Charlotte Worthington was unable to defend her title after mental problems, while Beth Shriever dominated in the heats only to somehow finish last in the final.
Tom Pidcock’s determination and skill earned him gold in mountain biking after Anna Henderson took a strong silver in the women’s time trial, but he missed out on too many other medals he could have won – not least when Josh Tarling suffered a puncture in the time trial.
In the velodrome, gold for the women’s team sprint was a great achievement after years of hard work to fix the team’s biggest weakness. But it would remain the only gold on the track.
Despite the enormous hype, 21-year-old Emma Finucane was able to add keirin and individual bronze to her track record.
Familiar faces such as Elinor Barker and Jack Carlin fought hard – Barker took bronze in the team pursuit and then silver in the madison with Neah Evans, while Carlin showed dogged determination to take silver in the team sprint and bronze in the individual, closing the gap on the dominant Dutch and repeating his haul from Tokyo.
The performance of Carlin and his teammates Hamish Turnbull and young Ed Lowe was so good that Park wanted to make a bold statement: “Things you will regret: ‘We will get gold in the team sprint in LA, yes we will.'”
Former sailor Park has completed two full Olympic cycles with British Cycling but has no plans to go anywhere. His sights are now set on 2028.
“We have riders who are capable (of competing in multiple events),” he said. “We’ll go back and analyze what we did and we’ll rebuild when we go to LA.”
“I think we can be as proud of our achievement – if not more proud – as anything we have accomplished before.”
