Jess Varnish loses Great Britain cycling squad place
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 20/04/16 11:30am
Jess Varnish has been dropped from the Great Britain cycling team after a performance review.
The 25-year-old learned last month she would not be considered for a place in the team for the Olympic Games in Rio in August after failing to qualify in the team sprint along with Katy Marchant.
Varnish and Marchant finished fifth at the UCI Track World Championships in London, but that result was not enough for the partnership to advance to the Games.
It was the second Olympic disappointment for Varnish, who was disqualified from the event at London 2012 when she was racing alongside Victoria Pendleton.
British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton said: "Following on from our annual post-Track World Championships performance reviews, the decision was made for Jess to leave the sprint programme.
"Since her gold medal at the London World Cup in 2012, Jess had not made the necessary gains in performance compared to the rest of the world.
"The decision was based on a projection of medal competitiveness at Olympic Games level. We wish Jess the best of luck in the next stage of her career."
Varnish and Marchant were critical of British Cycling in the wake of their World Championships effort, especially over their racing plan as they tried to qualify for Rio.
"I feel sick," Varnish said. "How many more times can I keep putting my life on hold, making these choices for my career, if it's not going to pay off, through no fault of our own?
"There's been no real plan. We have not been out there racing against the world. We're fifth in the world, we've beaten so many of the teams, this is the best we've ever competed and we're not going to the Olympics.
"It should never have come down to this."
