WEST FIFE mountain bike star Rab Wardell has passed away at the age of 37.

The Dunfermline born rider's girlfriend, Katie Archibald, said that he had suffered a cardiac arrest yesterday morning in a heartbreaking social media post.

Olympic champion Katie, who lived with Rab in Glasgow, said that she "can't describe" her pain, and that she tried to revive him.

News of Rab's passing came just two days after he won the elite men's title at the Scottish MTB XC Championships in Dumfries and Galloway at the weekend.

On Monday evening, he had appeared on BBC Scotland's 'The Nine' to discuss his success, where he discussed overcoming three punctures to win the race.

Rab, whose first cycling club was Sandy Wallace Cycles of Inverkeithing, whose founder, of the same name, died last year, turned professional in mountain bike racing for the first time this year.

He competed for Scotland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne, in the men's cross-country mountain biking competition, and, in 2020, he set the record for cycling the West Highland Way.

On Twitter, Katie said "I still don't understand what's happened; if this is real; why he'd be taken now - so healthy and happy", and thanked those offering their condolences, as tributes to Rab have flooded in.

Scottish Cycling said they were "devastated" by the news, while British Cycling described him as a "brilliant rider, friend and ambassador for our sport".

Callum Skinner, an Olympic gold medallist in 2016, said: "Some of my earliest memories in the sport featured Rab Wardell, a strong, witty personality who’d help anyone", while the Scottish Cross Country Association said that he "will be truely missed by our community and his determination ,talent and friendship will live on in all our hearts and memories."