Sophie Capewell will arrive in Glasgow this summer eager to complete her Commonwealth Games full set.

The sprint cyclist earned bronze in the 500m time trial and silver in the keirin at Birmingham 2022, and now bids to go one better having been announced as part of Team England's cycling squad once more.

Alongside Katy Marchant and Emma Finucane, the Lichfield ace blitzed to Olympic gold two years later in the women’s team sprint, smashing the world record three times in Paris.

Finucane will be racing for a strong-looking Wales team in Glasgow, however, with Scotland and Australia also likely to challenge for medals.

She said: “Everyone talks about the Commonwealth being the 'friendly games', but it doesn't take away any of the competition that we have. "We’re friends off the track and enemies on the track and Birmingham for me was really good, so I'm looking forward to getting something again.

“It was incredible. It was my first big Games experience, so for it to be a home Games as well was unbelievable. The crowd was next level.

“Emma and I race a lot, so it'll be good to go head-to-head again. All of us know each other really well, so it's like trying to call each other's bluff. We've all got the answers to each other's riding styles, so it's going to be an interesting one, but it'll be good fun.”

In 2022, Capewell was pipped by Kiwi Ellesse Andrews in the keirin, and Australia’s Kristina Clonan and Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell in the 500m time trial.

The 27-year-old said: “It's special to break up into our own nations and represent Team England.

"In Birmingham, my favourite memory was the Keirin. It was getting to the end of the competition, and I think I rode it really well. 

“I came away with a silver medal and it was close. The crowd was pretty loud, so it was special for me. It motivated me to go on to the next competition.

“The Olympics was like a dream. It was the first medal event on the track on the first night and we executed it exactly as we wanted to.

"It just kind of happened, and then we kind of woke up and realised. That was a culmination of a lot of years of hard work, a lot of things that people don't see. 

“All three of us had a very different story to get to that point, and I personally had to overcome adversity.”
Capewell won a bronze medal in the team sprint at the World Championships in October 2021, but lost her father Nigel after a long illness the very same month.

“When he was ill, I didn’t really live at home," she said.

"You have to make the decision of whether you're training or travelling back home and seeing them. You don't want to waste any time, but it's really hard because everyone's got life as well. 

“Elite sport is a short space of time, and he kept telling me you need to go and change your dreams, and I'm sat at home trying to make those decisions and whether to stay or whether to go. 

“I'm very happy with the decisions I made, but it was a really tough time for me. I had a really hard few years battling with grief, so it was very challenging.

“Everyone goes through adversity in sport in different ways.”

Team England are Ready to Win at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Keep up to date on https://teamengland.org/