Over five days of action and 11 different race formats, the Ballerup Super Arena in Denmark witnessed 22 rainbow jersey events at the 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championships.
It was an amazing UCI World Championships for the UCI Track Champions League athletes too, who were individually responsible for or part of a medal-winning team in 32 out of 66 opportunities, eight of which were gold.
Like at the Olympic Games this summer, Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) came away as the most decorated athlete – the double UCI Track Champions League men’s sprint champion winning gold in the team sprint, sprint and 1km time trial.
But he wasn’t the only rider who appeared to be in red-hot form ahead of the 2024 season, which kicks off on November 23 at Paris’ Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome.
Emma Finucane (Great Britain) edged Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands) to claim the women’s sprint gold, while she completed the Olympic - UCI World Championships double alongside Sophie Capewell (Great Britain) and Katy Marchant (Great Britain) in the women’s team sprint.
Elsewhere, Mina Sato (Japan) won her first rainbow jersey in the women’s keirin, and 2022 UCI Track Champions League Endurance runner-up Sebastián Mora Verdi (Spain) added the points race gold to the scratch race title that he won at London 2016.
The racing in Ballerup also saw the return of Katie Archibald (Great Britain) – the double UCI Track Champions League Endurance overall winner competing for the first time since a freak accident ruled her out of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The 30-year-old appears to have recovered well from a fractured tibia and fibula and was part of the British trio who retained the women’s team pursuit title.
It wasn’t just the top spots that were dominated by UCI Track Champions League riders either, with many more medal winners in Denmark. From a keirin competition dominated by stars of the sprint competition to podium finishes across numerous formats, here’s who did what at the 2024 Tissot UCI UCI Track World Championships.
LAVREYSEN AND FINUCANE DOMINATE SPRINT
Harrie Lavreysen has been in the form of his life in the last 12 months. After leading the sprint standings for the entirety of the 2023 UCI Track Champions League season, the 27-year-old added three gold medals to his tally at Paris 2024. The Dutchman entered the 2024 Tissot UCI World Championships targeting four more titles for his collection, and he almost managed it.
Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg powered their way to the men’s team sprint gold, before Lavreysen overcame his team-mate Hoogland to retain the men’s sprint crown. He then added his first world title in the 1km time trial – again beating Hoogland and Joe Truman (Great Britain) – but couldn’t make it a perfect UCI World Championship, settling for seventh in the keirin after missing out on the gold medal race by a tenth of a second. Mikhail Yakovlev’s (Israel) silver and Kevin Santiago Quintero Chavarro’s (Colombia) bronze ensured there were UCI Track Champions League alumni on the podium though for the motor-paced race.
While not as dominant as Lavreysen, Emma Finucane came away as a double UCI World Champion – the 21-year-old retaining the sprint title she won at Glasgow 2023 and working alongside the trio of Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant to improve on their silver in the team sprint from a year ago. Finucane got the better of Hetty Van de Wouw (Netherlands) in both, with the Dutchwoman also achieving silver in the women’s keirin, where she was sandwiched between Mina Sato (Japan) and Marchant.
ARCHIBALD MAKES WINNING RETURN, GOLD FOR MORA
The Endurance action accounted for the majority of titles on the line at the 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championship, and the UCI Track Champions League stars medalled in all but the individual pursuit.
The biggest result of the five-day event was double UCI Track Champions League Endurance champion Katie Archibald’s winning return from injury in the team pursuit. As recently as June, the British rider was laid up in hospital with lower leg fractures but just four months later she was back on the boards, clinching her sixth rainbow jersey. The 30-year-old also competed in the Madison alongside Neah Evans (Great Britain), where the pair won bronze.
The other Endurance gold medal for a UCI Track Champions League rider came with Sebastián Mora’s victory in the points race – three of the four omnium formats also having their own titles at UCI World Championships.
Elsewhere, 2022 UCI Track Champions League Endurance champion Jennifer Valente (USA) secured silver in the scratch race and bronze in the elimination, while 2023 UCI Track Champions League Endurance champion Dylan Bibic (Canada) bounced back from a low-key Olympics with bronze in the elimination race.
13 MORE RIDERS QUALIFY FOR 2024 UCI TRACK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
The Tissot UCI Track World Championships were the last qualifying event for the 2024 UCI Track Champions League under the new qualification criteria announced at the beginning of the season. Another 13 riders have officially qualified through their results in Denmark, joining the 41 athletes already guaranteed a spot in this season’s UCI TCL if they choose to compete.
