Elinor Barker and Neah Evans snatch dramatic Paris 2024 track cycling Madison silver medal

An all-new pairing of Elinor Barker and Neah Evans could not defend the women's Madison title won by Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald at Tokyo 2020. The duo are reigning world champions since their three-point win over Australia in 2023 and snatched silver at the very last in the Madison final at Paris 2024. Champions Italy sealed the title courtesy of an unexpected mid-race breakaway.

Watch dramatic Madison finale as Team GB take silver behind triumphant Italy

Video credit: TNT Sports

Elinor Barker and Neah Evans of Great Britain could not defend Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald's Olympic title, snatching silver in a dramatic finish in the Madison final.

Raced over 120 laps, the first four teams crossing the line in 10 lap intervals are awarded between five and one points, while there are 20 points on offer for lapping the pack.

Evans called the event "bonkers" after the race, while Barker admitted that the Brits did not plan for bronze medallists the Netherlands and champions Italy to climb to the podium via lapping.

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Barker told Eurosport: "I think the Dutch and the Italians had an amazing race because I think historically there’s been maybe two races that have been won by lap gains alone.

"So we didn’t really plan for that. Our last two years have been around how are we going to win as many sprints as possible as efficiently as possible.

"Obviously we knew that everyone else was going to have the same plan but their attacks were super strong.

"The Italians just took the perfect opportunity. We know these riders, we know they are super strong and sometimes it’s just not a lot you can do to respond."

No team could come close to the Brits’ 31 sprint points, with Barker and Evans finishing inside the top four in eight of the 12 races.

The United States were their closest sprint challengers, and even they only amassed 18 points.

In truth, it was the unexpected breakaways from the Netherlands and gold medallists Italy that decided the order of the podium.

Madison is 'bonkers' admit Team GB's silver medallists Evans and Barker

Video credit: TNT Sports

And it took a sensational last-gasp grab for the final double-point sprint that took Evans and Barker above the Dutch, who had earlier earned a crucial 20-point bonus.

"It really is bonkers," Evans told Eurosport. "There are basic rules and principles that you do for the Madison but in the race they go out the window.

"As the race progresses, people get really fatigued, so they make mistakes and they get tunnel vision and then sometimes you are going out there off the back and you need eyes in the back of the head which you don’t have. So it’s just chaos.

"It is an Olympic sliver medal, that is fantastic. As current world champions we obviously came in with really high expectations and I think we wanted to win and we felt we were in a really good position and they attacked when we were not 100% prepared and I think we responded."

Elinor Barker and Neah Evans (Getty Images)

Image credit: Getty Images

Team GB got off to a fine start, holding off a stern challenge from France to take the first five points on offer before conceding the second sprint to Italy.

A couple of consecutive second place finishes set up Evans and Barker as the team to beat with a third of the final completed.

But finishing outside the points following two successive bells gave the American team of Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams a slender one-point advantage at the top of the table.

The Netherlands, who found themselves bunched in the middle of the standings, knew they had to make a drastic move, which they pulled off by becoming the first to lap the peloton.

So despite Britain taking the line first in the eighth sprint, they found themselves nine points down on the Dutch.

Italy were the next to make a breakaway, bumping Team GB down to bronze medal position, who kept their score ticking with a brace of fourth place finishes.

In a dramatic finish and needing at least a top-two place in the final double-point sprint, Britain captured the win when it mattered to leapfrog the Netherlands and snatch silver.

Speaking later, Barker told Eurosport: “The Madison is kind of always hectic by design and at one point we slipped out of medal contention.

"I was pretty much on my last legs and it just feels like a bit of a blur. I’m so happy that we managed to have a good ten laps and get that high score at the end to bring us back into the medals and I couldn’t be happier with this round my neck.”

Evans added: "[The crowd support] is incredible, I know it’s not technically our home crowd but it feels like it is, it’s so loud and especially that final ten laps because we’re both blowing and the crowd can see what we’re doing. They got right behind us and it’s just such an incredible feeling.”

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