THE 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Evie Richards has enjoyed a promising return to cycling competition after her knee operation in January.

She travelled overseas to compete in a batch of class one women’s elite mountain bike races selected by her new coach Liam Killeen as key tests in coming back from injury.

Malvern’s Richards, 22, competed against a number of former world champions and secured a first place in La Thuile, Italy, and a second in Andermatt, Switzerland.

She has collected 100 Olympic qualification points for the Great Britain team as they strive to have two mountain bike riders competing at Tokyo 2020.

The former Chase School pupil’s next races are back-to-back World Cup events in Andorra and Les Gets, France, which start on Sunday.