Katy Marchant is thriving on the “discomfort” of being back in a team environment as she gears up for next week’s UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
Marchant returned to competition earlier this year after giving birth to son Arthur last June, but the Great Britain sprint set-up she came back to was very different to the one she had left behind following the Tokyo Games.
Britain have failed to qualify for the women’s team sprint at each of the last two Olympics and Marchant flew the flag alone in Japan.
But since then Britain have taken team sprint bronze at each of the last two world championships, both times without Marchant, as a new generation emerges with eyes on the Paris Games.
It has meant Marchant must now fight for a place – where before she was the only contender – but the 30-year-old has been determined to embrace the challenge.
“I feel more comfortable in the individual events because that’s familiar territory but I’m really enjoying the discomfort of being in the team,” Marchant said.
“I want the personal challenge, I needed the new challenge. That’s what was pulling me back in.”
Marchant enjoyed immediate success on her return to racing as she won European team sprint silver alongside Lauren Bell and Sophie Capewell in Grenchen.
“When you’re in a team that’s being successful, it’s so nice to be able to share that with teammates,” she added.
“I feel that’s what’s driving me now to get to Paris, the fact the team is at such a high level.
“It’s made me having to progress quicker than what we had thought and now it’s a case of seeing if I can make the team.”
READ MORE: Katie Archibald willing to put it all on the line in for world titles
Bell, 24, has called Marchant, who is aiming to compete at a third Olympics next summer, the “mother hen” of the sprint squad, something the Rio bronze medallist can accept with a laugh.
"I like to think I lead by example but I’ve got quite strong views on the way I am and how I want to operate,” she said. “It’s been really nice to be a member of a team but bring something different to the team.
“In different scenarios they do come and ask me for advice because I’m that little bit older and I’ve been around the block, but at the same time they lead me as well because they give me something I’ve not had before – the support of team-mates and the competition of team-mates.
“The group environment is nice. They call me old but it’s nice to have a laugh and a joke with a younger group, and remember why we’re here and why we do this.”
These world championships come a year before the Paris Games, a change to the previous format in which the last set of rainbow jerseys was handed out just a few months before an Olympics.
It means these championships are unlikely to have the usual pre-Olympic drama where rivals would size up each other and their kit, but Marchant expects no less intensity as a result.
“A lot can happen in 12 months going into the Olympics but at the same time, there’s only one opportunity to have a big dress rehearsal like this so people will be taking that opportunity,” she said.
“People will still be getting quicker and they will go to the Olympics going to the next level again but people will be coming to Glasgow and looking to lay a benchmark.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here