Wisbech sportsman Liam swaps the pool for the pedals to speed to success at Track Cycling Championships

Wisbech sportsman Liam Knight bounced back onto the sporting stage with a bang this weekend by posting the fastest time in his first ever track cycling competition.

The former Great Britain swimmer and multiple national champion switched sports late last year following multiple illnesses and injury.

Liam hopped on his bike to compete for Loughborough Elite Performance Squad at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester at the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) Track Cycling Championships.

Following a short training period, the 21-year-old was picked as the lead leg in the men’s team sprint and posted the fastest lead time of all competing university entrants.

Liam fought off any nerves to post a time of 20.277 seconds, which helped his team through to the final where they took gold in a time just 0.01 seconds short of the BUCS all-time record.

He said: “As it was my first ever track cycling meet I was really nervous before hand, as it was something completely different. But as I got into it I started to enjoy myself and it went really well.

“I’ve been so used to big swimming events so this was something completely different, that’s what made me really nervous, but the competitive nature kicked in and it went really well, especially for my first ever meet.”

After experiencing success in his first race on a bike, the student is aiming to achieve even more as a cyclist than he did in the pool.

“I’ll be getting in more practice on the velodrome and just try to get as far as I can in the sport - hopefully as far as I did in swimming and maybe better,” he said.

“I miss swimming a lot but a lot of things had happened and now I can concentrate on a new sport and be the best I can be.”