GREAT BRITAIN ANNOUNCE TEAM FOR SoN2 FINAL

The Under-21 side line up for the World Championship event in Prague on Friday night.

But they have seen their squad decimated by two riders and two big crashes over the past fortnight.

Luke Harrison, Jody Scott and Cooper Rushen were involved in a huge pile-up at Northampton. Then on Wednesday night Rushen, Will Cairns and Luke Killeen also crashed out at Oxford.

It means both Scott (collarbone) and Killeen (concussion) have been ruled out of the SoN2.

Harrison has recovered from concussion while Cairns moved up into the team with Rushen at reserve. The Poole youngster has taken a battering and had to miss a school exam to step up for his country.

Vatcher said: “It’s been a very challenging time because all of our squad have taken knocks.

“It’s definitely not the ideal way to prepare for such a massive event for the boys.

“But they have all shown so much determination to be fit and ready to go for Prague.

“We are naturally disappointed that Luke Killeen and Jody Scott were ruled out. We wish them speedy recoveries from their injuries.

“Now we just hope to have a clean bill of health before Prague so we can prepare in the right way.

“I have to thank Cooper for taking the trouble to move his exams at very late notice to accommodate this event.”

Great Britain last achieved a medal in SoN2 in 2022 in Vojens.

Last season they finished seventh in Torun and Vatcher knows it will be tough again.

He added: “We obviously want to achieve medals. But we have moved through a different generation of riders quite a lot in recent years.

“We were very unlucky in Manchester in 2024 when we lost Dan Thompson with a broken collarbone in the meeting.

“But we know that our boys always give it everything for their country.

“I’m confident that Luke, Will and Cooper can do a great job for us in Prague. We are a very young side and the experience will be excellent for them.”