Foiled one lap from gold: Atkinson’s crash wrecks bid for Paralympic glory

Foiled one lap from gold: Atkinson’s crash wrecks bid for Paralympic glory

GB rider loses to Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka after fall‘I just sort of ran out of energy and went down’

The sport of pursuit cycling is one of risk and reward and Britain’s Archie Atkinson felt the sharp edge of that dilemma when he was denied a gold medal after dramatically crashing out of the men’s C4 4,000m final on the penultimate lap.

Atkinson had been about six seconds ahead of his rival, Jozef Metelka of Slovakia, but the gap was closing as the race came to its climax. The 20-year-old sensation had set a world record time in qualifying earlier in the day and was looking to kick on again one final time, only for the air to be sucked from the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome when Atkinson’s bike slipped out from underneath him as he came round the top bend.

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