Smiles have been hard to come by in the Great Britain camp so far at the Track World Championships, but Becky James cut a beaming figure as she basked in a hugely uplifting and wholly unanticipated bronze medal in the keirin on Thursday night.
The 24-year-old, whose mere presence at these championships – never mind in the semi-final or final – was a victory in itself, took a giant leap towards consigning a torrid two-year period of illness and injury to the past. Amid talk of a crisis emerging in the ranks of the home nation, with sub-par performances and internal discord, James’ performance provided the feel-good factor that had been so sorely lacking on the first day and a half.
At the 2013 World Championships in Minsk, the world seemed at James’ feet; the then 21-year-old had taken the keirin title along with two bronze medals in the course of a glittering week. However, just over a year later she had to have an operation after a smear test revealed cell abnormalities that had a ‘severe’ risk of developing into cervical cancer.
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An injury to her left knee soon followed and after months of trying to manage it and failing to recover adequately, James was eventually forced into a four-month period away from the bike. She has described the injury as career threatening and her recovery has been a protracted process, returning to the bike in early 2015, to the track in the spring, and to competitive racing in late summer.
The World Cup events over the winter were a key test but to be back at this level – the best, James says, she’s been since before the injury – and winning medals was above and beyond her expectations.
“It’s just absolutely amazing – I can’t believe it,” James said after collecting her medal from the podium.
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