Katie Archibald
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Katie Archibald (born 12 March 1994) is an elite racing cyclist, specialising in endurance track cycling events in which she represents Great Britain and Scotland.[3]
A member of the Great Britain 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Olympic silver medallists team in women's team pursuit, she is a champion in the same event at both the World (2014, 2023, 2024) and European (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2026) championships and current world record holder. She won her second Olympic gold medal in the inaugural women's Madison race at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo with her partner, Laura Kenny.
Individually, Archibald has been European champion in the elimination race in 2015, four times in the omnium in 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2023, in the scratch race in 2021, the women's Madison twice in 2021 and 2023 and a four time European champion in the individual pursuit between 2014 and 2017. In 2017 she secured her first individual global title, winning the Omnium at the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and won a third world championship the following year when partnering Emily Nelson to win the Madison at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. In 2021 she won her second individual world title, with a second world Omnium title.
Archibald's 21 gold medals in European elite track championships is an all-time record for that championships.
Her brother, John, is also an elite cyclist who has represented Great Britain and Scotland.[4] Both won medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games representing Scotland; Katie won gold in the women's individual pursuit and John silver in the men's.
Track
Archibald was privately educated at The Glasgow Academy. She has a sporting background in swimming and took up cycling relatively late, taking it up competitively in 2011 on the grass track and in 2012 on hard track.[2]
After spending 2012–2013 working in the family business (Archers Sleepcentre) as a telesales operator,[5][6] she was recruited into British Cycling's Olympic Development Academy in November 2013.[3]
Archibald made her Great Britain debut at the 2013 European Track Championships. Alongside Laura Trott, Dani King and Elinor Barker, she won the gold medal and broke the world record twice in the team pursuit.[7][8]
At the 2013–14 Track World Cup first round in Manchester, while riding for the Scottish Braveheart team, Archibald claimed silver in the scratch race and bronze in the points race.[9][10] Recalled to the Great Britain team for the 2013–14 Track World Cup second round in Aguascalientes,[11][12] Archibald was part of the quartet that won gold and broke the world record again in the team pursuit competition.[13][14]
She then became Scotland's first female track cycling world champion, when she was part of the team that won the team pursuit title at the 2014 World Track Championships.[15][16] Archibald won the gold medal in the same event, and another in the individual pursuit, at the 2014 European Track Championships.[17][18] Archibald represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 2014, as she claimed a bronze medal in the points race.[19][20]
At the 2015 European Track Championships, Archibald became a triple European champion, retaining the team pursuit and individual pursuit titles she won in 2014, while adding the elimination race title.[21][22]
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Archibald returned to competition at the European Championships winning the omnium and for the third year in a row the pursuit and claimed the silver medal in the elimination race.[23][24][25] At the Six days of London event, Archibald won eight of the ten races to secure the women's omnium title with 15 points.[26][27] Archibald then returned to Glasgow for the World Cup event, where she partnered Manon Lloyd to win the Madison event, but broke her wrist in an early fall whilst changing with Lloyd.[28][29] Archibald returned from injury to finish second at the Six Days of Berlin,[30][31] and followed it up by winning four titles at the national championships.[32] At the final of the Six Day series in Mallorca, Archibald finished runner up to her team pursuit teammate Elinor Barker.[33] Archibald then capped her track season by winning her first individual world title in the Omnium.[34]
Archibald retained her Individual Pursuit and Omnium titles at the European Championships and was also part of the team that took the silver medal in the team pursuit.[35][36][37]
Archibald was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to cycling.[38]
Archibald was chosen to be part of the UK's cycling squad at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she was joined by Elinor Barker, Neah Evans, Laura Kenny and Josie Knight for the endurance races. She returned with a silver medal in the Women's team pursuit, but shared the inaugural gold medal in Women's Madison with Laura Kenny.[39] In October 2021 Archibald was selected for the European Track cycling championships, winning her 15th and 16th gold medals in the Scratch race and Omnium to become the elite events most successful ever competitor. In June 2024, Archibald was ruled out of the upcoming Olympics in Paris. Archibald broke two bones in her leg and tore ligaments off the bone after falling over a step in her garden in a “freak accident.”[40] She made her return to the track in October at the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark.[41]
At the 2025 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Archibald finished second in the elimination race.[42] She then won the world madison title alongside Maddie Leech.[43]
At the 2026 European Championships in Konya, Archibald was a member of the British line-up who won the gold medal in the final of the team pursuit. The team consisting of Archibald, Morris, Knight and Millie Couzens also set a new world record of 4:02.808 in the final against Germany.[44] Later in the championships. she also won a silver medal in the madison with Morris.[45]
Road
Her road cycling team Podium Ambition, formerly Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International, turned professional for the start of the 2016 UCI Women's World Tour. She, along with team-mates Sarah Storey and Joanna Rowsell, were the first riders to be named in the new line-up.[46][47] Archibald joined Sheffield based Team WNT Pro Cycling for the 2017 season.[48] During the 2017 season, Archibald finished third on stage three and four of the Semana Ciclista Valenciana.[49][50] In the domestic Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series, Archibald won round 2 in Stoke-on-Trent and finished second in the opening event in Redditch.[51][52] Archibald finished second in the national road race championship and third in the British time trial championships on the Isle of Man,[53][54] before taking the circuit racing championship in Sheffield.[55]
For the 2018 season Archibald decided to join Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling.[56]
Personal life
Archibald's partner, Scottish racing cyclist Rab Wardell, died on 23 August 2022; she revealed she had unsuccessfully tried to save his life as he entered cardiac arrest in bed beside her.[57]
She is a cousin of Leyton Orient player Theo Archibald.
