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Katie Archibald insisted her targets at the track world championships are “as high as they always would be” four months on from the horrific leg injuries that ruined her Olympics dream.
Archibald’s hopes of adding to her two Olympic golds at Paris 2024 were dashed as, weeks earlier, she suffered a fractured tibia and fibula, a dislocated ankle and ligament damage in a freak accident.
The muscle shrinkage in her left calf and a swollen ankle are reminders of that stumble over a step in her garden in June but she will make a swift return to action this week in Ballerup, Denmark.
A five-time world champion, Archibald will compete in the team pursuit and madison and while she rates herself at around 80 per cent physically, the 30-year-old Scot is itching to get her campaign going.
“As high as they always would be, probably higher than the average attendant,” she said, when asked about her objectives this week.
“The average attendant has been at the Olympics. It can sort of cut both ways of people feeling like they have unfinished business, that they want to redeem themselves (from how they fared at) the Games. But for a lot of people, they take an off-season. Maybe some teams won’t even enter.
“For me, it’s a major target, it always is. But I know that as far as worlds go, this won’t be the most competitive of the four-year (Olympic) cycle. I will be as competitive as I can be.”
Surgery after her fall was followed by rehabilitation, with Archibald admitting she was initially envious in the build-up to the Olympics before watching intently as her GB team-mates won 11 medals.
I wasn't anxious to get back. I just had a serious craving to get back to training, regardless of what result it would lead to, regardless of whether I'd be any good at it— Katie Archibald
It is little wonder, then, that Archibald, who spoke about losing a slight sense of identity during her time on the sidelines, is revelling being back in the saddle, irrespective of how she performs.
“I wasn’t anxious to get back,” she said. “I just had a serious craving to get back to training, regardless of what result it would lead to, regardless of whether I’d be any good at it.
“It’s one thing to lose the Olympics but there really wasn’t much you can do (wearing) a boot. I got really into swimming and I did upper body work at the gym but none of it felt like a cathartic release.
“I’d lost being able to move properly. I’d lost my sense of community a little bit because cycling is that community to me and and my team were off on training camps, on holding camps and at the Games.
“The only emotion I felt that I was uncomfortable with (ahead of the Olympics) – the distasteful emotion I suppose – was jealousy more than anything else. When the racing actually started and once I could just be immersed as a fan of the sport, that was just the biggest escape.
“Now that I am able to push again, the fact that I can turn up to the track sessions as a contributor, and not just a burden…I feel sort of more aware of those elements that are making me happier on the bike than than I’ve been in a long time.”
Archibald has already turned her attentions towards competing at the Los Angeles Olympics but is wary of viewing the 2028 Games through the lens of ‘unfinished business’.
“I can tell in myself that’s maybe a toxic driver,” she added. “I don’t think that’s how somebody gets to the top, by thinking ‘well, I wanted to do something. I’m just going to keep trying until I can’.
“The driver that I do have is I know that I’m good at this. I know that I really enjoy it. I feel super motivated for LA and I just do want to be cautious that I’m not just completing unfinished business.”
