Erin Boothman, 19, wins two gold medals on world debut in Shanghai
Erin Boothman won two gold medals on her debut at the Track Cycling World Championships in Shanghai in October. The 19-year-old Scot, BBC Sport reports, is now targeting a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Track cycling takes place on a velodrome, a steeply banked indoor oval. Her first gold came in the women's team pursuit, where four riders take turns at the front of a time-trial effort against the clock. Boothman rode alongside Anna Morris, Millie Couzens and Josie Knight for Great Britain.
Her second came in the madison. Two riders work as a pair, taking turns to race while their partner rests, and they score points in sprints during the race. Boothman partnered Morris to win it.
Boothman already had a long list of honours. She has won four world junior titles. In July she took bronze in two events for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, in the individual pursuit and the scratch race, a mass-start event where the first rider across the line after a set distance wins.
She grew up in Netherlee, on the south side of Glasgow. As a child she trained at the Sir Chris Hoy Arena, the velodrome named after Scotland's six-time Olympic champion. She now lives and trains in Girona, Spain, a town that has become a base for many road and track riders.
Her route into the sport was not the obvious one. She turned down an unconditional offer to study pharmacology at Strathclyde University, which meant she could take up a place without any further conditions, in order to pursue cycling full time.
She names Katie Archibald as an inspiration, both on and off the bike. Archibald, now retired, won two Olympic golds and a silver at the 2016 and 2020 Games. She missed the Paris 2024 Games after a freak accident.
Boothman's first season at world level has given her a clear marker for the years ahead. The Olympics in Los Angeles are still almost two years away, and a place in the British squad will depend on selection, not just on results like these.
