Team GB cyclist Elinor Barker becomes Wales' most decorated female Olympian

Team GB cyclist Elinor Barker is now Wales' most decorated female Olympian, becoming the first woman to win four Olympic medals.

Welsh cyclist Barker and Scottish teammate Neah Evans won a silver medal for Team GB at the Paris Olympics in the women's Madison on Friday 9 August.

A big late charge from Barker saw Britain win the last of the 12 sprints in the 120-lap race and move above the Netherlands as Italy’s Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini celebrated gold.

Italy finished with 37 points to Britain’s 31 and the Netherlands’ 28.

It comes after Barker, 29, already completed a hat-trick of Olympic medals on Wednesday when she was part of a Welsh trio, completed by Jessica Roberts and Anna Morris, who won bronze in the women's team pursuit, with Josie Knight completing the GB quartet.

Cardiff's Elinor Barker now has four Olympic medals to her name. Credit: PA

Making the event even more special for Barker was the fact she could celebrate with her son Nico.

Barker won gold in Rio in 2016 and silver in Tokyo five years later.

She told the BBC after the second-placed finish in Paris: "It’s hard to say, we really, really wanted gold. We came in as world champions which obviously meant we put that pressure on ourselves. We had a target on our back potentially.

"We said it wouldn’t change the way that we raced but it was hard not to feel like we needed to take responsibility for things at times and perhaps that’s what we’ll pick up in our analysis but also I think - an Olympic medal.

"There are plenty of world champions this week that haven’t medalled. I think every single medal is a huge achievement.

"Now this means that every single rider across our squad has got a medal which is awesome so yeah a pretty happy group of people."

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