Is Archibald Scotland's greatest female athlete?

Katie Archibald is looking forward to stepping away from the public eye [Getty Images]

Katie Archibald admits she has even surprised herself by choosing to retire when she is still a current world and European champion.

And at a time when she had already been selected for a Commonwealth Games in her home city, on the velodrome where she learned to race a bike.

But as the 32-year-old leaves the sport to pursue a career in nursing while at the top of her game and as one of Britain's most decorated track cyclists, where does it place her in the list of great Scottish female athletes?

• Archibald retires from cycling after falling 'in love' with nursing

Archibald's achievements

Katie Archibald picked out a victory with Neah Evans as one of her career highlights [Getty Images]

Over her 13-year career, Archibald has amassed an incredible 51 medals at world, European, Commonwealth and Olympic level, individually and as part of a team.

That haul includes two Olympic titles and a silver medal, Commonwealth gold, seven world titles and a world-leading 21 European titles.

Yet she left it late in her teens to follow older brother John - himself a British champion - into professional cycling having initially taken it up for the social aspect.

Having been invited on to the British women's track endurance squad in 2013, Archibald won the European team pursuit title in her senior competitive debut alongside Laura Kenny, Dani Rowe and Elinor Barker and she has never looked back.

However, despite all the major titles, when asked about her own career highlights, Archibald picked out her first major solo medal - a bronze in the Commonwealth Games points race in Glasgow 2014.

Her other personal highlight came 10 years later, in 2024, winning the madison with Neah Evans at the UCI Nations Cup.

An incredible return, but how does she compare to other Scottish female athletes?

Still playing football at the age of 35, former Scotland midfielder Kim Little has won the Women's Champions League with Arsenal as well as league titles in England, Scotland and Australia - plus a string of cup finals.

Rower Katherine Grainger has one Olympic gold and six world titles, as well as a string of lesser medals, mainly in quadruple and double sculls.

Eve Muirhead, meanwhile, won Olympic and world golds at curling.

But what about individual sports?

Hannah Rankin was Scotland's first-ever world boxing champion when she won the IBO super-welterweight title.

Hannah Miley won a world championship in swimming.

Liz McColgan claims world gold and Olympic silver in the 10,000m.

And Shirley Robertson won consecutive Olympic golds in sailing.

What others said about her

Evans - an Olympic and world silver medallist herself - told BBC Scotland "it is completely justified" that Archibald is being talked about as the most successful Scottish female athlete.

"She will be cringing and going 'no, no, no this is not why I did it'," Evans said.

"It is so difficult because you are talking across different sports and generations. But I think one of her things is the sheer volume of medals she has won over many years in multiple different disciplines.

"She has not been a one-trick pony and I think that is why she really stands out as a phenomenal athlete."

Evans also pointed out that Archibald had not just dominated over a short spell but "season after season" and, despite enduring "more than her share" of adversity, had become "a cornerstone of the Great Britain cycling team".

Grainger, meanwhile, reckons Archibald "is undoubtedly one of the best athletes we've ever had in the country".

"Results alone, we could be sitting here all night talking about the success she's had, but it's also about the way she's done it," the former rower suggested.

"I think she was instantly relatable as well. Fiercely competitive, successful, there's a real toughness there, but there's a wonderful honesty. She's talked about the highs and lows, the pressure being in that environment, talked about the setbacks.

"Being a woman who's phenomenally successful in their specialist subject it's wonderful that the ripples of influence go far beyond her time on the track."

What Archibald herself said

Madelaine Leech and Katie Archibald won the women's madison at last year's Track World Championships [Getty Images]

So why has Archibald turned her back on all the adulation now?

"In the early stages of my career, I was sure I would never willingly walk away," she said. "I felt that giving this up before it was ripped from my hands would be irrational."

Archibald admitted she is "keen to step back from what little part of the public eye I'm in" and felt "a lot of pressure" being an Olympian.

"Olympians should have an Olympian's body, an Olympian's mindset, an Olympian's willpower," she suggested.

"Since the 13th of August 2016 [Rio Olympic Games team pursuit final], I've felt self-conscious about having the title, but not the other stuff.

"I'm looking forward to finding a new identity and to inevitably feeling self-conscious when I don't live up to that one either."

That new identity is in nursing, having "fallen completely in love with the whole thing", but Archibald stressed that her decision to give up cycling had nothing to do with having to combine studying with training and competing.

Indeed, she had come to love representing both Scotland and Great Britain.

"When I was young, I fell in with a minority attitude within the Scottish cycling scene that nothing is more important than beating the English," Archibald admitted.

"But, when I was 19 years old, I travelled to Manchester for my first performance trial at the National Cycling Centre and everything changed."

Archibald stressed that she is "not hoping for a grand legacy" as she exits the sport she still loves.

"I'm also the reason you say 'P1' instead of 'man 1" if you're a woman who rides team pursuit for the GBCT," she pointed out. "I guess that's a bit of legacy."