'We showed up today': Yorkshire cycling superstar Katy Marchant adds world title to her Olympic gold

The 31-year-old, who won team sprint gold alongside Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane in world record-breaking fashion in Paris in August, followed it up on the opening night of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark.

Marchant and her team-mates stormed to gold by defeating the Netherlands in a time of 45.949.

The trio made history as Britain’s first women’s team sprint side to win Olympic gold – and are now the first British women’s squad to become sprint world champions since 2008.

Marchant, who only returned to cycling 18 months ago following the birth of her son Arthur, said: “Today was a tough day on the bike and perhaps a little bit harder than winning an Olympic gold medal for different reasons but I’m really glad we showed up today.

"We’re absolutely over the moon.”

Marchant will also ride the sprint, 500m time-trial and keirin over the coming days.

The Yorkshire duo of Ollie Wood and Charlie Tanfield helped the men’s team pursuit squad – silver medallists in Paris – qualify for Thursday night’s gold-medal race against reigning world champions and hosts Denmark.