ALLEN - FOCUSED ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Images courtesy of Steve Hone Photography

The national side finished fifth in Opole, Poland on Sunday as the home team romped to yet another Gold medal. Adam Ellis top scored with 14 but with Tom Brennan having a tough afternoon, GB just fell short of a medal position by four points.

Allen said: “The bottom line is that I’m disappointed in the result. The boys are disappointed, we expected more. But we move onto next year and try to pick up another medal.

“We made a change in the line-up from the Semi-Final to the Final by putting Adam in. That decision was justified, Adam did really well. He showed that he belongs at that level. I have felt that for a long time. It’s good that he is proving it by passing the likes of Andrej Lebedevs and Piotr Pawlicki.

“He had a massive crash in his second race and I genuinely thought he was out for the meeting. He buried himself in the fence. He just got up, said he was winded but would be fine. His bike was also written off, had to switch to the second machine, yet he still delivered.

“Everyone can see from the scores that Tom had a tough day. But he needs to be exposed to these meetings. He is clearly good enough to score points on the International stage. He is better than he was on Sunday, he knows that and I know that.

“It might seem on the surface to be a poor day but in his last ride he passed Szymon Wozniak twice. Wozniak passed him back. But to pass a Grand Prix rider and former Polish Champion in Poland is decent and showed he is on the pace. It proves he isn’t far away from the complete package and that’s what we are trying to help him achieve.

“In the middle of the meeting he struggled. But he knows what he needs to work on in the future.

“It was another opportunity to work with those boys. We are learning all the time and going in the right direction.”

It’s been another productive season for GB with a Silver in the World Cup, narrowly missing out in a last race decider in Wroclaw. But Allen remains positive with the progress being made right the way down the different levels of youth development.

He added: “It says a lot that our expectation levels have gone up that we are annoyed not to get a medal.

“We know about our top three riders. But it shows we are building further down the line. Adam proved he can cut it at this level and Tom is knocking on the door.

“All things considered, this year’s not been too bad. But I’ve got a clear picture in my mind of how 2024 will look and how we structure it. The focus remains on developing our younger riders. There’s a gap and we need to fill that gap.

“I want to continue this job for the foreseeable future. In my time I want to make sure we have more young talent coming through.”