Varnish set sights on Olympic qualification at World Championships

The 25-year-old from Finstall has set her sights on booking a place at the summer’s celebration of sport in South America.

But her dreams of representing Great Britain in the team sprint category depend on a strong display in London at the beginning of March.

Qualification is based on points earned for performances rather than times and Varnish and Katy Marchant's hopes are going down to the wire.

But they have hit form at the right time after taking a superb silver medal in the team sprint in the World Cup round in Hong Kong.

After qualifying second, the British duo lined up against Rusvelo’s Daria Schmeleva and Anastaslia Voinova.

Voivona’s sub-19 second opening lap, the only one of the competition, was too much to overcome and a 33.625 second time for 500-metres secured silver and left the team eighth in the overall team sprint world cup rankings.

“This is actually our first team sprint medal for two years so we’re really, really happy,” said Varnish.

“It’s a big step in the right direction. We’re not going to read into times too much here because they’re completely irrelevant.

“We’re really still up against it for Olympic qualification so to come here and put places between us and the other European countries is really been a step in the right direction.

“We’re fully committed to being there in Rio.”

The Finstall flyer is currently in deep training at her Manchester base.

Meanwhile, Former European team sprint champion Yelena Brezhniva has accepted a four-year ban from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) after testing positive for growth hormones.

The Russian track rider’s ban is backdated to June 22, 2015 and she is now likely to retire from the sport, according to her coach.

Brezhniva won team sprint gold at both the 2013 and 2014 European Games, partnering Olga Stretsova and Voinova in respective years.

In 2013, Becky James and Varnish finished third in the 2013 competition behind Brezhniva and Voinova.