As two-time Olympic champion Katie Archibald announces her retirement, Susan Swarbrick looks back on the Scottish rider's remarkable cycling career.
The moment I knew Katie Archibald was going to be a star came on a dreich spring morning in 2013, watching her glide at high speed along the narrow country lanes of rural Perthshire.
I cannot take full credit for that epiphany. Shadowing Scottish Cycling's then head coach Graeme Herd in the team car at the City of Perth Women's Grand Prix, as we closed in behind the peloton, he pointed out a Lycra-clad figure among the bunch.
'That is Katie,' he said. 'Big things to come from her over the next few years.' As a plain talker famously averse to hyperbole, Herd may as well have put Archibald's name up in lights. In that instant, I had zero doubt this was an incredibly special rider pedalling before me.
A former swimmer who grew up in Milngavie near Glasgow, she came late to cycling. Archibald was already in her late teens by the time she started racing on grass tracks at Highland Games to earn extra pocket money ('better than a paper round,' she quipped).
Her first season on the hard track was in 2012, honing her skills at the now-demolished Meadowbank Velodrome in Edinburgh. Archibald's talent and tenacity did not take long to shine through, but she was, in cycling terms, still very much a wet-behind-the-ears rookie.
While the track was her natural home, that morning in Perthshire was one of her earliest road races. Archibald had little clue about tactics yet was relentlessly gutsy. She got into breakaways. She formed alliances. Her bike handling was sublime.
When we spoke briefly that day, her slightly goofy, awkward and self-deprecating manner — which has since become a much-beloved Archibald trademark — stuck out amongst her peers.
A few weeks later, I sat down with her at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow. Archibald, then 19, cut a distinctive figure with her candy-floss pink hair and kooky style. A shy maverick with steely determination.
She was hesitant to talk about Olympic aspirations (so many athletes do, then fade into obscurity). It was a year after London 2012. Laura Kenny, Dani Rowe and Joanna Rowsell were household names. Elinor Barker was breaking into the GB ranks.
As Archibald herself would no doubt recall, emulating their success felt like a pipe dream. She had been riding seriously for less than two years. I remember her laughing at the absurdity of her name being spoken in the same sentence as these contemporary greats.
Yet, within less than six months, Archibald was part of that core GB squad alongside Kenny, Rowe, Rowsell and Barker. Her first major medal was team pursuit gold at the 2013 UEC European Track Championships. A year later, she was world champion in the same event.
Fast forward to Rio 2016 and Archibald stood atop the podium as Olympic champion in the team pursuit. Five years on, she added a second Olympic gold at the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020, winning the Madison alongside Kenny.
Across a glittering 13-year career, Archibald has amassed a phenomenal tally of 51 medals at the highest levels of the sport — a haul that includes two Olympic, seven world and 21 European titles. Not forgetting Commonwealth Games gold in 2018.
On paper, it reads like a fairy tale. Although the reality for Archibald, on and off the bike, has not been without its share of adversity.
In late 2015, she crashed her motorcycle at 70mph. The accident, in which she sustained a torn posterior cruciate ligament and a fractured elbow, forced her to miss the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
Her Olympic ambitions were left hanging in the balance. As she recovered, Archibald steadfastly reined in her free-spirited, rebellious side, admitting that she was so fearful of missing out on Rio 2016 that she had started using a non-slip mat in the shower.
It was the most testing time of her career to date. However, this period would pale next to the unimaginable heartbreak Archibald experienced in 2022.
After going 'flying over the bonnet of a 4x4' on a training ride and seriously damaging ligaments in both ankles, she had to withdraw from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Then came the seismic event that saw her world implode. Her partner Rab Wardell died suddenly, aged 37, after he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at their Glasgow home. Only two days earlier, he had fulfilled his long-held dream of winning the Scottish MTB XC Championships.
As Archibald faced a painful and uncertain future without the love of her life, she described cycling as a 'cathartic' way to channel her grief and keep Wardell's memory alive.
She returned to racing with her sights set on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. But, again, fate would deal a cruel hand. Mere weeks before, Archibald tripped on a garden step and dislocated her ankle, fractured her tibia and fibula and ripped two ligaments off the bone.
Her hopes of a third Olympics were over. Another tough recuperation followed, Archibald again proving her mettle as the comeback queen.
Yet, behind-the-scenes, she had begun exploring new ways to stoke the fire in her belly. In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Sport in 2024, Archibald revealed plans to depart Manchester, where British Cycling is based, and move to Glasgow to train as a nurse.
Since last autumn, she has juggled sporting endeavours and academic studies. Today, Archibald, 32, announced her retirement from top-level cycling to focus on nursing. She exits as a current world and European champion — one of Britain's most decorated track riders.
There can be no quibbles about the colossal and positive impact that Archibald leaves in her trailblazing wake. She not only stamped her mark on the global stage but helped throw open the door for generations of young Scots riders to follow suit.
Throughout her career, Archibald broke the mould in every sense. One of the most observed things about her unconventional appearance is a collection of eye-catching tattoos.
Her arms bear both the Olympic rings and a design inspired by cartoonist Shel Silverstein's The Thinker of Tender Thoughts — a cautionary tale about a nonconformist who changes to blend in.
These always struck me as Archibald, quite literally, wearing her heart on her sleeve. Grit and fortitude that coexist alongside a gentle, sensitive and empathetic soul. All traits that will stand Archibald in good stead as she moves into this next chapter of her life.
