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Sports round-up: 18-24 February

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Welcome to our sports round-up: a weekly bulletin of British women’s results from around the globe.

Cycling:

Great Britain’s women were once again the stars of the show at the track World Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

Laura Trott, Dani King and Elinor Barker took gold in the women’s team pursuit, beating Australia in the final. Barker is still studying for her A-levels and took the place of Jo Rowsell, who did not compete in the Championships.

Barker was obviously delighted. In an interview with the BBC, she said, “I feel really overwhelmed. I thought I was just riding round the Manchester Velodrome in a training ride and then we won. I just feel shocked. It is above and beyond what I’ve dreamed of.”

It is the last time the team pursuit will be a team of three over a distance of three kilometres.

From now on, the women’s event will mirror the men’s, with four team members riding over four kilometres. Rowsell will rejoin the team to round out Great Britain’s four.

Laura Trott won silver in the omnium on 24 February. The double Olympic champion left herself too much to do in the final event, and finished behind American Sarah Hammer in the overall standings.

But the title “queen of the track” must go to Becky James, who notched up two golds and two bronzes in an incredible competition.

She started with two third places early on in the week in the team sprint and 500m time trial.

From then on she was unbeatable, taking gold in the women’s sprint, beating Kristina Vogel of Germany 2-1 on 23 February before a spectacular win in the keirin on Sunday.

After her first victory she told the BBC, “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe this has just happened to me. I’m world champion and I can’t believe it!”

Rugby Union:

This weekend saw another exciting round of encounters in the Women’s Six Nations.

England suffered a shock defeat at the hands of France, the first time they had been beaten by Les Bleus since 2005. The game took place at Twickenham on February 23 after the men’s game. The extreme cold made handling difficult and the game was strewn with errors.

England seemed nervous in the first half and trailed 18-10 at half time. The coach brought on Katy McLean for the second half, and although she definitely made a difference, they eventually went down 30-20.

It was the first time that England had ever lost at Twickenham, a run that had stretched for ten matches. England cannot now retain their Six Nations title.

Better news for the Irish, though, as they beat Scotland 30-3 at Lasswade on February 23 to claim their first ever Triple Crown.

The win means that they are now sure of a place at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2014.

On Sunday, Wales won a thrilling match against Italy 16-15 in Benevento. It was Wales’ first win of the 2013 Championship.

The game wasn’t settled until the 78th minute when Laura Prosser scored her second penalty to make the score 16-12. Even then Italy came back with a penalty of their own, but Wales held on to take all the points and keep their hopes of making the 2014 Rugby World Cup alive.

Curling:

Perth retained its Scottish women’s curling title this week, with kip Eve Muirhead, second Vicki Adams and third Anna Sloan beating Lockerbie 8-4. This was Muirhead’s fourth national title triumph. She will next lead Scotland at the World Women’s Championship in Latvia in March.

Wheelchair curling:

Scotland’s wheelchair curling team will be competing in Sochi next week in the sport’s World Championship. The event is being held at the same venue as the 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Wheelchair curling teams are mixed, and the Scottish team comprises Skip Aileen Neilson, Tom Killin, Gregor Ewan, Robert McPherson and Gill Keith.

“We’ve been working hard on and off the ice, and to go to Sochi and play against the other nations who we will face again next year is a great opportunity for us and fantastic preparation,” Neilson told the BBC.

In 2010 Neilson was the first woman to skip at a World Championships or OIympics when she headed the GB team at the Winter Paralympics in Vancouver.

“I’m sure there are females who could aspire to that skip role and I’m sure it will happen,” she said.

Hockey:

Two of Great Britain’s outstanding hockey players of recent years have announced their retirement.

Christa Cullen and Beth Storry have both announced they are to leave the international arena.

Cullen, 27, made 171 appearances for her country and became known for scoring from penalty corners. She is leaving Britain to take up a job in Kenya.

Goalkeeper Beth Storry, 34, made 115 appearances and featured at two Olympic Games. She has long been considered one of the best keepers in the game.

Judo:

Gemma Gibbons won her first British Championships title in Sheffield this week. After claiming Olympic silver in London in 2012, Gibbons was unsurprisingly seeded first. She won all of her fights in the under 78kg class, including the last against Caroline Kinnane.

Gibbons was delighted with the result, “I’ve never been senior British champion before, so it was great to come away with that title.”

A surprise bronze went to 22 year-old Laura Dangerfield. “I was a bit star-struck when I faced Gemma, but I can forgive myself that!” she said.

After six years out of the sport, Dangerfield only took up judo again in April last year, amassing enough ranking points to gain entry into the British Championsips. Her bronze medal moves her from tenth to fifth in the national rankings.

In other categories there were wins for 17 year old Jodie Myers in the senior over 78kg class, following hard on the heels of her 2013 Junior Championship victory.

The senior under 48kg title went to Kimberley Renicks, with Louise Renicks taking the under 52kg category.

The senior under 57kg competition was won by Sophie Cox, but she was pushed all the way. Four-time European medallist Cox said: “I came here today because I wanted to test myself and I certainly got that.”

The senior under 63kg title went to Faith Pitman, and the under 70kg to Megan Fletcher.

Tennis:

Heather Watson suffered a surprise quarter-final defeat in the US Indoor Championship to Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland. The Briton played poorly, succumbing 6-1 6-2 to Voegele, who is ranked 48 places below Watson in the rankings.

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