Great Britain top medal count at European Track Championships

Great Britain won their 12th medal of the UEC European Track Championships in Apeldoorn on Saturday with Josie Knight winning the women's individual pursuit. Anna Morris brought the country's tally up one more notch to 13 with the bronze before Emma Finucane closed out the competition with a silver medal behind Germany's Leo Sophie Friedrich.

Germany were second to the British in the medal count with nine, three gold, winning the women's Team Sprint, men's Madison, and women's Keirin.

The Netherlands were a close second as Harrie Lavreysen did the sprint hat-trick, taking out the keirin, individual sprint and team sprint.

"Last year I also took the triple in Grenchen, but that is something different than here in Apeldoorn," Lavreysen said to nos.nl. "Especially in the run-up to the Olympic Games. I couldn't start the year better. I'm already looking forward to going prepare, to get even better, to show what I can do in the summer."

On Saturday Ethan Hayter eked out the victory in a hotly contested points race finale in the men's Omnium.

Hayter tied on points with Denmark's Niklas Larsen but won on the tie-breaker, securing the fifth European title for GB. Fabio van den Bossche (Belgium), who led the Omnium heading into the points race, fell to third.

Earlier in the evening, Lotte Kopecky won back-to-back gold medals in the women's Points Race and Elimination race.

Kopecky topped Norways Anita Stenberg and Jarmila Machacova (Czech Republic) in the Points Race while Lea Lin Teutenberg (Germany) took silver in the Elimination Race. Britain's Jessica Roberts claimed the bronze medal.

"When I saw the programme, I was not happy with the points race and the elimination race right after each other," Kopecky said.

"Fortunately, I managed to convince the coach to do both disciplines. With these two European titles within half an hour, it turned out to be a very special day."

Great Britain's medal haul includes five gold medals, five silver and one bronze.

Dan Bigham won the individual pursuit and was part of the winning men's team pursuit squad with Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Ollie Wood and Ethan Vernon. Emma Finucane won the women's individual sprint and Katy Marchant the 500m time trial.

Britain's women's team won silver in the Team Sprint and Team Pursuit, Neah Evans won silver in the women's Omnium, while William Tidball won silver in the men's Elimination Race and Tanfield won silver in the individual pursuit.

Germany have the next-best tally with two golds - the women's team sprint and men's Madison, two silver and three bronze.

The result for Great Britain is a strong indicator for the upcoming Olympic Games where the country will try to defend their record.