JACK Carlin cruised into today’s final stages of the individual sprint as John Archibald fell just short of following his sister Katie onto the European Championships rostrum, writes Stewart Fisher. The Paisley sprinter, a world championship runner up in this event, produced the fifth-fastest flying lap of the day at 9.789 seconds but his tactical nous was to the fore as he made short work of Azerbaijan’s Sergii Omelchenko and Ukraine’s Andrii Vynokourov to book a place in the quarter finals. The man he will meet there, Sebastian Vigier of France, is the reigning European champion, with Carlin’s British team-mate Phil Hindes also reaching the last eight.

Archibald, meanwhile, was edged out of a chance to ride for the medals in the individual pursuit in despite a qualifying ride which vindicated British Cycling’s decision to hand him his first GB vest as a ‘guest rider’. The 27-year-old, working in the family business until he took up track cycling in the lead-up to the Gold Coast, out-performed his KGF clubmate Charlie Tanfield to record the fifth-fastest time, 4.17.119, only to be robbed of a last four spot at the death but this will be food for thought for the selectors. “I really wanted to smash it for the home crowd (the cheers were outrageous),” he tweeted afterwards, “but I parked the last kilo after going high round the catch and never getting the rhythm back. But 5th isn’t a bad result.”