Dani King targets Rio Olympics after serious accident

Dani King (left) won Olympic gold in the women's team pursuit alongside team-mates Laura Trott (centre) and Joanna Rowsell

Olympic champion Dani King has targeted a place in the women's team pursuit squad at Rio 2016 after recovering from a serious road accident in November.

The 24-year-old, who won team pursuit gold at London 2012, suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung in the crash.

King has since resumed road cycling and is training with the Wiggle Honda team.

"That's my main goal to get back into the team, but those girls are incredible and it's not going to be easy," she told BBC Radio Solent.

"But I think I do bring something to that team, for sure, and it'd be nice to get myself back and get on that winning podium with them again."

Great Britain suffered their first team pursuit defeat in four years, with Australia setting a new world record to deny Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell a fifth straight gold at the recent World Championships.

But King has no concerns about Team GB's prospects in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Dani King (left), seen here at the 2013 National Road Race Championships, finished runner-up behind Laura Trott at last year's event in Abergavenny

"I'm not too worried about how quick the Aussies went," she said. "I think we've still got a massive potential to go faster, so it's about maybe going back to the drawing board and seeing what we need to do to close that gap again.

"Looking back to the performances in Apeldoorn, which were this time in the last Olympic cycle, they weren't that dissimilar to the results we had in Paris.

"So I think that they've got a plan and it'll be completely different by the time we get to Rio."

King is in Belgium with her team but admitted it has taken time for her to feel confident on the road again.

"Before this camp I'd only ridden with a very small group and I hadn't ridden in the rain," she said.

"Then a couple of days ago I did a group ride with about twenty riders - we rode the Het Nieuwsblad course, which is full of steep, cobbled climbs and the weather couldn't have been any worse.

"For me to get through that was a really big step. I think now every time I'm facing my fears like that I'm only going to get better, so I believe it'll come back in no time."