Emotional Team GB star dedicates gold medal to late dad as women’s sprint team smash world record
Great Britain's gold medal-winning track cyclist Sophie Capewell broke down in tears as she dedicated her triumph to her late father.
The 25-year-old won gold in the women's team sprint on Monday alongside Katy Marchant and Emma Finucane as Team GB made a stunning start at the Paris velodrome.
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The brilliant trio broke the world record three times on a perfect night, edging New Zealand by five tenths of a second to claim victory in the final in a time of 45.186 seconds.
It is Britain's first ever Olympic women's team sprint medal.
And while Capewell was left ecstatic by the achievement, she was overcome with emotion as she spoke about her late father.
Her dad, Nigel Capewell, was a Paralympian who competed at the Paralympic Games in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, finishing fourth in both cycling events.
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Sadly he passed away in 2021, meaning that he never got to see his daughter compete at the Olympics.
Speaking after winning her Olympic gold medal in Paris, Capewell said: "The support, the journey to get here, for everyone has been up and down.
"I've had my own personal battles. I wish my dad was up in the stands watching it," to which Finucane said: "He was!"
Capewell then added: "But I know he would be super proud of me.
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"It didn't feel real all day, we did every ride and it was like, 'Faster, faster again', and then, 'Oh we're at the top of the fast machines'."
The 25-year-old had a lucky charm too, revealing she was wearing an old helmet of Britain's seven-time Olympic champion Sir Jason Kenny, who is now the men's sprint coach.
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"That's pretty cool," she said. "It's just a helmet that he's no longer using, so I said 'I'll have that one'."
Finucane, who has been tipped to win three gold medals at Paris 2024, also failed to hide her delight.
She remarked: "Honestly we’ve been working really hard on this and you will hear this a lot from us but the process is really key.
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"We nailed that final and I believed in us before we went up to do it.
"But to execute lap one, lap two and lap three pretty much perfectly and then to cross the line first, I was like ‘no way’.
"It's just a dream come true and to have these two by my side is unreal."
Meanwhile Marchant simply stated: "I have no words. Phenomenal, Literally incredible."
In qualifying for the men's team sprint Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull clocked the second fastest time to build confidence ahead of Tuesday's first round and finals.
A big final leg from Carlin, the sole survivor of the team that took silver in Tokyo after Kenny and Ryan Owens retired, saw them post a time of 41.862 seconds, behind only the Dutch team of Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, strong favourites for gold.
Team GB were second fastest in qualifying for the men's team pursuit as Dan Bigham, Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood set a new British record with a time of three minutes 43.241 seconds, just shy of two seconds off the previous mark of 3:45.218 set at the Euros in January.
Australia topped the time sheets with a 3:42.958, with reigning champions Italy down in fourth behind the team they beat in the Tokyo final, Denmark.
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