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Elise Christie
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Grace Cullen 04 October 2012
Cycling: Becky James won a remarkable four titles in five days at the British Cycling National Track Championships in Manchester, claiming victory in the sprint, team sprint, keirin and 500m time trial. James, a Commonwealth silver medallist, was a reserve for the team sprint for London 2012 but was not selected for the final squad.
Other winners in Manchester: Owain Doull (individual pursuit), Sophie Thornhill piloted by Megan Boyd (para time trial), Kian Emadi (kilo), Mark Colbourne (para 200m time trial, para individual pursuit), Lucy Garner (3000m individual pursuit), George Atkins (points race), Adam Duggleby (scratch race), Matt Crampton (keirin), Corrine Hall (30km points race), Callum Skinner (men’s sprint), Janet Birkmyre (scratch race), George Atkins, Owain Doull, Sam Harrison, Joe Kelly and Simon Yates (team pursuit), Emily Kay, Elinor Barker and Amy Roberts (team pursuit), Lucy Garner and Harriet Owen (Madison), Simon Yates (omnium), Pete Mitchell, Dave Daniell and Lewis Oliva (team sprint).
Short Track Speed Skating: British short track speed skaters dominated the field at the International Invitation Cup in the Netherlands (29-30 Sep).
The team won a total of eleven titles out of a possible twelve, including five individual and two relay wins, plus two overall classification titles and both top team positions.
The Brits saw off competition from three countries ranked top eight in the world last year, as the men stormed to victory in the overall classification with a one-two-three finish for Jon Eley, Jack Whelbourne and Paul Stanley respectively, whilst in the women’s event Elise Christie took the overall classification title, with Charlotte Gilmartin following up in third.
Wheelchair Tennis: Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker, Antony Cotterill and Adam Field won five of a possible six titles over the weekend at the PTR Championships, an ITF 2 Series event on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA.
World No. 9 Reid dropped just three games in total against Frenchmen Yoann Quilliou and Frederic Cazeaudumec en route to the men’s singles final and then beat his doubles partner, Stephen Welch, 6-4, 6-2 to win his fourth successive PTR Championships title.
Reid and Welch also justified top seeding in the men’s doubles, beating second seeds Steve Baldwin of the USA and Cazeaudumec 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
Shuker, who won a doubles bronze medal at the London 2012 Paralympics Games, lost just four games en route to the women’s singles final before beating her German doubles partner and second seed Katharina Kruger 6-4, 6-2 to win the title.
Tops seeds Shuker and Kruger gave up just two games in both their women’s doubles semi-final and final, after the duo beat second seeds Francisca Mardones of Chile and Jessica Sporte of the USA 6-0, 6-2 in the final.
In the quad doubles Cotterill and Field beat Americans Greg Hasterok and David Jordan 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to claim their fifth tournament of the year together.
Wrestling: Olga Butkevych won Britain’s first ever women’s World Championship medal, claiming bronze at the 2012 Women’s World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
Butkevych made up for the disappointment of her first round exit at the Olympic Games, defeating Japan’s Kyoko Shimada to secure her medal.
Earlier she saw off Russia’s Ekaterina Melnikova in her first match, and then beat the London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Yuliya Ratkevich to qualify for the semi-finals of the 59kg division.
Butkevych then lost to China’s Lan Zhang, but bounced back to see off Shimada for her medal.
“This is a fantastic achievement by Olga, and it should not be under-estimated,” said Shaun Morley, British Wrestling’s Performance Director until he stood down last month.
“She’s a world class athlete, and has proved that with this fantastic performance – even more so because she was in a really tough half of the draw. Indeed, had she been in the other half, I’d say she might even have gone all the way to the gold medal match.”
This is the second major success for Butkevych, who also won a bronze medal at last year’s European Championships in Dortmund.
