You would have forgiven Katie Archibald for no longer wanting to commit to elite cycling, let alone for not performing at a level that made her a world champion again. Three months ago, in the familiar environs of Glasgow, she was part of the first British quartet to win women’s team pursuit gold since 2014. It came after a 2022 which stretched her powers of recovery on and off the bike, earning her the Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards, in association with Citi.
Injuries are a common concern for cyclists, and Archibald is no stranger to that. Yet even by an elite cyclist’s standards, last year was one of rotten luck, before the tragedy that put everything into perspective.
In March 2022, after she had recovered from shoulder surgery, Archibald suffered two fractures to vertebrae in her back. The following month, at an event in Glasgow, she broke her collarbone and had concussion from a crash. In May, she was knocked off her bike by a 4×4 during a weekend training ride, injuring ankle ligaments.
The last of those incidents left her contemplating retirement. “It’s funny because it was probably the least severe in terms of injuries, although it was my legs, so I freaked out because I thought my knee was totally bust,” she said. “But I just really, like, lost it. I couldn’t ride without panic taking over.” It was enough for her to post wryly on Instagram: “Can’t say I’m loving 2022.”
Then, on the morning of August 23, Archibald suffered an unimaginable loss. Her partner, Rab Wardell, died beside her at home, aged 37, two days after he was crowned Scottish champion in mountain biking. “He went into cardiac arrest while we were lying in bed,” Archibald said in the days that followed. “I tried and tried, and the paramedics arrived within minutes, but his heart stopped and they couldn’t bring him back.
Advertisement
“Mine stopped with it. I love him so much and need him here with me. I need him here so badly, but he’s gone. I can’t describe this pain.”
Archibald found comfort on two wheels. “I got on the bike about three days afterwards and I realised I wasn’t scared any more,” she said. “The worst thing had happened and that anxiety had gone. There was just a total blankness, a pain that really overwhelmed it. Now I’m back to really relying on the sport as my one grounding thing.”
She returned to competition 13 months ago, winning a silver medal in the team pursuit at the Track World Championships. Following that, she became European champion in the team pursuit, omnium and madison.
Archibald was a three-times world champion in omnium and madison, but the wait for Britain’s women to be the best pursuers in the world involved several near-misses, Archibald taking five silvers and a bronze in the event in between golds. She joined Elinor Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris in regaining the world title by dominating New Zealand. “She’s unbelievable,” Barker said. “It’s really hard to summarise the year she’s had, and how she feels about it, and how we feel about it. But just the fact she’s here is just insane. I don’t really know how she does it.”
Archibald spoke of her struggles dealing with the pressure of performing at the World Championships in Glasgow, on home turf, the nerves so great that she couldn’t eat breakfast. Though she achieved success as a team, she missed out on a medal in the omnium, finishing fourth. “It was just mistake after mistake,” she said. “I’ve had this anxiety building, since May really, feeling like you’re waiting to be trotted out for slaughter. And I thought, ‘Well, once I get racing, it’ll be OK.’ And the scratch didn’t go to plan.
Advertisement
“I’ve struggled with the pressure. To come in with form like this, it’s never one thing, and I can’t blame it on one thing. But I’ve obviously made a series of mistakes, and maybe done two proper things in a points race, and that weighed out to fourth.”
• Katie Archibald: I still feel guilty over Rab Wardell’s death
However, the difficulties that had hindered her in the build-up were small fry compared to the tragedy she had endured. “What’s funny is that now I feel fine, I guess because I’m a bit dejected,” she said as she reconciled with missing out on a medal. “I cry all the time, like at everything, mainly happy things. So when you feel disappointed with a race, it’s quite a mellow sense of sadness, compared to the bigger things we all deal with in life.”
Archibald won her first Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, as part of the team pursuit. In Tokyo five years later, GB took silver, but Archibald won gold with Laura Kenny in the madison. Next year, by which time she will have turned 30, Archibald targets three golds in Paris, a chance to prolong her extraordinary story.
