THE GREAT SCOT

Katie Archibald

“There’s another gear when the threat of your goals being taken away from you is dangled there”

Asuperstar on the track, Glasgow girl Katie Archibald has more than 50 medals from across Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World and European Championships and UCI Track World Cup meetings. 38 of them are gold. It’s an amazing number for any rider, even more so when you realise Katie only started riding aged 17, when she switched from swimming.

But it hasn’t all been smooth riding. Katie was forced to withdraw from the 2022 Commonwealth Games after she suffered a string of injuries and was hit by a car, all while recovering from shoulder surgery. Tragically, the next month she lost her partner, mountain biker Rab Wardell, to a sudden cardiac arrest.

Showing her resilience and strength, Katie was back in prime position for the UEC European Track Championships in February 2023, taking golds in the Madison, Omnium and Team Pursuit. Buoyed by the home crowd at the velodrome in Glasgow, this invincible rider will surely achieve even greater things at the 2023 UCI Cycling Worlds.