The full set of velodrome gold medals is in sight for Bedford’s Ethan Vernon, who claimed Commonwealth Games gold yesterday (30 July) as part of an England quartet in the Team Pursuit event in Glasgow.
It now leaves a single elusive gold medal at the Olympic Games to claim, with 25-year old Vernon having already won British, European and World golds across an illustrious cycling career that still has many years left in it.
Team England gained some revenge on the Australian foursome who broke British hearts at the last Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, earning a new Commonwealth Games record time of 3.47.092 in a dominant performance in the final.
The winning margin of over 1.1 seconds is a sizable one in the world of track cycling, but it was far from plain sailing for an England team who ended up using five different riders across a dramatic day at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.
Spare a thought for Charlton
Cycling’s team pursuit is a four person event covering four kilometres, with both teams starting on opposite ends of the velodrome.
Final times are measured as the third team member’s front wheel crosses the finish line, meaning the lead rider drops out of the race towards the end having worked the hardest at the front.
The event is split into two stages, with qualifying determining the final two teams, but Team England were thrust into difficulty when Vernon’s teammate, Josh Charlton fell ill during the first round.
During qualifying, after 19-year old frontman Henry Hobbs had dropped out, the unwell Charlton was unable to keep pace with Vernon and Charlie Tanfield towards the climax, with England qualifying a full two seconds slower than favourites, Australia.
Charlton was unable to continue onwards to the final, so in came late replacement Will Tidball, creating a four-strong team that had never cycled together in a Team Pursuit event before.
And led by 19-year old major championship debutant, Hobbs, the cards were stacked against the England team in the face of the reigning Olympic champions.
Despite that, the final turned into the perfect performance, where everything “clicked”.
Speaking to the Team England media team, Tanfield said, “We swapped Will in and tweaked the turns a little bit, and it just clicked.
“All of a sudden, we were chopping around some really fast laps and we were like, yeah, this is it.”
Charlton still collected a gold medal, meaning all five riders can now call themselves a Commonwealth champion, including Ethan Vernon who adds a Commonwealth gold to an already burgeoning medal display.
The individual pursuit
Gold medal celebrations had to be put on hold due to the individual pursuit taking place 24 hours later.
Vernon, Tanfield and Charlton all took part in qualifying on Friday (31 July), although none of them were able to qualify in the top four spots in order to reach the next stage.
Ethan finished sixth in qualifying with a time of 4:06.367, narrowly behind England teammate, Tanfield in fifth while current individual pursuit world champion, Charlton finished eighth.
The gold medal race is an all-Australian affair, while the Isle of Man’s Matthew Bostock will compete for a bronze medal against another Australian rider in James Moriarty.
Track cycling is the only form of the sport taking place at this edition of the Commonwealth Games, with road cycling one of the events to be axed amidst a stripped back Games.
The Commonwealth Games continues until Sunday, 2 August.
This article was updated at 15:05 on Friday, 31 July to add details on the individual pursuit competition.
