Staffordshire cyclist Dan Bigham eyes individual joy after a silver

The Stone athlete – who competes in the individual pursuit today – joined Charlie Tanfield, Ollie Wood and Ethan Vernon in the final as New Zealand clocked a Commonwealth Games record time of 3:47.575 to beat them.

“In all honesty it feels amazing,” Tanfield said. “Before the race I had that in the back of my head. I didn’t want that to happen again. It feels really good to see the hard work pays off and you can turn things around.”

England’s men’s team sprinters were also beaten by a Games record as they were seen off by Australia in the final. Stafford’s Hayden Norris was part of the squad, but it was Ryan Owens, Hamish Turnbull and Joe Truman who took to the track for England.

Meanwhile, Dame Laura Kenny claimed she had been as nervous as she was before an Olympic gold medal ride as she helped England to bronze in the women’s team pursuit.

The five-time Olympic champion has endured a traumatic time since the Tokyo Games, suffering a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, but was able to celebrate at the Lee Valley VeloPark as she joined Josie Knight, Maddie Leech and Sophie Lewis to hold off Wales in the bronze medal ride. Shrewsbury’s Grace Lister was part of the squad.

They were significantly off the pace set by Australia and New Zealand, who took gold and silver respectively.

“I’ve never felt so much pressure to try to win a bronze medal in my whole career,” Kenny said. “The fact this is such a young team, I’ve been lucky in my career to have some brilliant experiences and step on the podium but this is the first taste of it for Maddie and Sophie.

“Going into that final, it could have been for gold at an Olympics I was that nervous...I didn’t think I was going to be here and if circumstances had been different I wouldn’t be, but to come here and play a part with these girls has been brilliant.”

n England’s women lost 3-0 to top seeds Singapore in the table tennis opener yesterday, but bounced back to beat St Vincent & The Grenadines later.

Stourbridge’s Charlotte Bardsley was beaten 3-0 by Jingyi Zhou and Jian Zeng in her women’s doubles rubber alongside Maria Tsaptsinos – but they were victorious second time around against Leah Cumberbatch and Unica Velox for the loss of just four points.

On her Commonwealth Games debut: “It was a fantastic moment to be out on court in front of all the spectators and the television camera. It was a unique experience I’ve never had before.

“I was nervous at the start but I’ve got good team-mates and support, so I settled down quite well.”