Track Cycling World Championships: Josh Tarling and Josh Charlton win gold medals for Great Britain

Josh Tarling and Josh Charlton won gold medals for Great Britain at the World Track Championships.

Tarling claimed Britain’s first gold medal of the championships in Chile by winning the men’s points race, collecting 750 points over 40km to beat American Peter Moore (675) to the title.

Charlton, 22, then doubled his gold tally, winning Britain’s first world title in the individual pursuit since Bradley Wiggins in 2008.

A good start saw 21-year-old Tarling take points in the opening race, then take the most points in race three before pulling clear to take a lap.

That gave him the lead and he went on to rack up points, including another maximum in the 11th sprint, to win gold in style.

Tarling, making his Track World Championship debut, became the first British man to win the points race title since Jonathan Dibben in 2016.

“I didn’t know how [my first World Championships] “What it’s going to be like or what it’s going to feel like, so not knowing was scary,” Tarling said.

“It felt pretty good. I think it was good to get those early points so I knew my legs were there.”

Charlton, who took silver on his championship debut last year, dominated this time as he rose to gold, finishing more than three seconds ahead of Denmark’s Rasmus Pederson.

Elsewhere, Joe Trueman took bronze in the men’s 1km time trial – behind Dutch duo Harry Lavriesen and Geoffrey Hoogland – to equal his feat achieved 12 months earlier.

The total number of British medals now stands at seven after three days of competition.

Katie Archibald won silver in the women’s elimination event, while GB took bronze for the women’s team on Thursday, after taking silver in the men’s and women’s team sprints on the opening day.