Great Britain’s Elinor Barker and Neah Evans won a hard-earned silver medal in an enthralling madison at the Paris Olympics.

A huge push on the final sprint gave the world champions a total of 31 points, six points behind gold medallists Italy who gained a lap.

GB were the only team on the podium to not take a 20-point lap, with bronze medallists the Netherlands being the first to make the catch.

Barker won the final sprint, which awards double points, to catapult her and Evans up a step from bronze medal position in the velodrome.

“We really, really wanted gold,” Barker – now a four-time Olympic medallist – told BBC Sport.

“We came in as world champions which obviously meant we put that pressure on ourselves. We had a target on our back potentially.

“We said it wouldn’t change the way that we raced but it was hard not to feel like we needed to take responsibility for things at times and perhaps that’s what we’ll pick up in our analysis but also I think – an Olympic medal.

“There are plenty of world champions this week that haven’t medalled. I think every single medal is a huge achievement.”

The silver continues Team GB’s success in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome at these Olympics with six medals now won.

It also means every member of the British track squad has won a medal in Paris.

Great Britain were defending champions coming in to the 120-lap race, with Katie Archibald and Dame Laura Kenny having won the inaugural Olympic women’s madison three years ago in Tokyo.