Fifth-place finish for Britain in Paris cycling medal table as they lose summit

For the first time in two decades Great Britain did not finish top of the cycling medal table at an Olympic Games.

Paris 2024 saw Team GB fifth, below France, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States.

Eleven medals was more than any other nation, but this time the colours had changed. Two gold medals represented the lowest number since Athens in 2004, back before the extraordinary run of success that brought eight golds in Beijing and London, six in both Rio and Tokyo.

“I wouldn’t say an era has ended, because it could easily have been quite different,” British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said.

“If you look across all the British sports, it’s tougher to win gold medals now than it has ever been. The difference between first and fourth is smaller than it’s ever been.”

There were extenuating circumstances. Katie Archibald’s devastating injury suffered in June ripped up plans for the women’s endurance squad.

Of the riders that made it to Paris, stories of disrupted build-ups became a recurring theme: Jack Carlin’s broken ankle, Evie Richards’ concussion, Kye Whyte’s back, Lizzie Deignan’s medical emergency, Neah Evans struck by the Epstein-Barr virus…the list went on.

But this moment has been coming. Park warned of rising competition going into Tokyo but three years ago, Team GB successfully diversified, leaning on the new BMX disciplines to stay ahead – picking up two golds, a silver and a bronze across racing and freestyle.

There was no repeat in Paris. Kieran Reilly won freestyle silver but Charlotte Worthington was in no position to defend her title after mental struggles, while in the racing, Beth Shriever bossed the heats only to somehow finish last in her final.

Tom Pidcock’s determination and skill delivered mountain bike gold after Anna Henderson’s strong silver in the women’s time trial, but too many other winnable medals got away – not least when Josh Tarling punctured during the time trial.

In the velodrome, gold for the women’s team sprint was a major success after years of hard work to turn around the biggest weakness in the squad. But it would be the only track gold.

In the face of huge hype, Emma Finucane, 21, added keirin and individual bronze to her haul.

Familiar faces like Elinor Barker and Jack Carlin fought hard – Barker taking team pursuit bronze and then Madison silver with Neah Evans, while Carlin showed dogged determination to win team sprint silver and individual bronze, picking up scraps behind the dominant Dutch to repeat his haul from Tokyo.

The performance of Carlin plus team-mates Hamish Turnbull and a young Ed Lowe was such that Park was prepared to make a bold statement: “Things you’ll regret saying: ‘We’ll win team sprint gold in LA, yes we will’.”

Former sailor Park has done two full Olympic cycles with British Cycling but has no plans on going anywhere, his eyes now turning towards 2028.

“We’ve got riders who are capable of (competing across multiple events),” he said. “We’ll go back and analyse what we’ve done, we’ll rebuild as we go to LA.

“I think our performance is one we can be as proud – if not prouder – of than anything we’ve done before.”