Great Britain at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships: Olympic results breakdown

Cycling Track 09 Aug 23

The 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships are underway, with British athletes storming the stage in Scotland.

Welcoming the Championships back on home soil in Glasgow, over 200 rainbow jerseys will be awarded throughout 11 days of competition, with vital ranking points for Paris 2024 on the line.

From gold in the velodrome to the BMX freestyle park, here's your breakdown of Britain's cycling success in Scotland and how we're faring ahead of next summer.

Track cycling

Note: Olympic qualification in the team sprint can lead to automatic qualification in the sprint and keirin, whilst team pursuit qualification can filter down to a quota spot for Madison and the omnium.

Women's team pursuit: GOLD

UCI Olympic nation ranking: First (6780 points)

Josie Knight, Anna Morris, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker roared to World Championship gold in Glasgow.

In a time of 4:07.771, the quartet won Britain's first women's team pursuit world title in nine years and will be aiming to make more history in Paris, out to reclaim their Rio 2016 title next year.

The victory sees Britain continue to top the nations ranking ahead of Paris qualification, leading the way in the discipline.

Women's Madison: GOLD

UCI Olympic nation ranking: First (6540 points)

Elinor Barker and Neah Evans soared to a stunning gold medal in the women's Madison.

After the final was halted with just two laps left due to an onslaught of injuries, the dynamic duo held on to their lead in an intense final lap, taking a total of 28 points.

They continue Britain's golden form of Madison success after Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald clinched the title at Tokyo 2020.

Women's team sprint: SILVER

UCI Olympic nation ranking: Third (4429.5 points)

Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane stormed to a stunning silver medal in Glasgow, upgraded their 2022 bronze to silver a year later.

Inched out of gold by just a mere 0.07 seconds by defending World Champions Germany, who had to break a world record to beat the Brits, who went under the previous all-time best mark.

In Tokyo, Britain's women's team sprint were cast out of the medals but now sit as top contenders ahead of next year.

Women's sprint: GOLD

UCI Olympic nation ranking: First (3345 points)

Emma Finucane made history as she stormed to sprint gold, beating out Germany's Lea Sophie Friedrich in two rounds.

The 20-year-old rode the fastest-ever 200m by a woman at sea level in the qualifiers, smashing the British record with a new time of 10.234s is a British record and getting dangerously close to the world record. Britain haven't won Olympic gold in the women's team sprint since Victoria Pendleton at Beijing 2008, with only a sprinkle of silvers and bronzes since.

Men's team pursuit: DNF

UCI Olympic nation ranking: 11th (3693 points)

Britain's men's team pursuit saw an unfortunate start in Glasgow, crashing out of qualification on day one.

The team still sit in a favourable position on UCI points despite missing out on a chance at the World title.

Men's Madison: SILVER

UCI Olympic nation ranking: Fifth (5240 points)

Mark Stewart and Oliver Wood clinched Madison silver behind the Netherlands.

The duo were just two points off gold with a consistent performance throughout in Glasgow.

After Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls rode to silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it seems that Britain still have a strong hand on the medal race with one year to go until Paris.

Men's team sprint: FOURTH

UCI Olympic nation ranking: Fourth (4095 points)

Britain grabbed a fourth-place finish in the men's team sprint after narrowly losing out to France.

Alistair Fielding, Hamish Turnbull and Joseph Truman battled fiercely but were unable to clinch bronze on the track, losing out by half a second.

Britain has a rich history of team pursuit success at the Olympics with gold in Beijing, London and Rio and silver in Tokyo, and are currently in a strong position in rankings ahead of next summer.

Men's sprint: BRONZE

UCI Olympic nation ranking: Seventh (2395 points)

Jack Carlin clinched a bronze medal for Britain in the men's sprint, beating out Poland's Mateusz Rudyk for third.

Having faced the record-breaking Harrie Lavreysen in the semi-final, Carlin proved his podium potential, grabbing bronze in just two rounds.

A consistently strong event for Britain, Jason Kenny won sprint gold at London and Rio, whilst Carlin clinching bronze in Tokyo.

Men's Kierin: FIFTH

UCI Olympic nation ranking: Tenth (2072 points)

Carlin was back for the men's Kierin, adding a fifth-place finish to his World Championship results.

Not since Athens 2004 has Team GB lost out on men's Kierin gold at the Olympics, with both Sir Chris Hoy and Kenny both standing dominating the top step of the podium.

BMX Freestyle

Note: Olympic qualifying quota spots for Paris 2024 were on offer to the top three riders, but these quotas will only be confirmed after next year's Olympic Qualifying Series, the primary qualifying competition for Paris 2024.

Kieran Reilly: GOLD

Newly crowned World champion Kieran Reilly laid down a monster run of 95.80 to clinch his maiden title.

Reilly was made to wait with bated breath as a rain delay kept defending champion Nakamura Rimu and Olympic champion Logan Martin from their second runs for about an hour.

But it was worth the tension, as the European Champion clinched the rainbow jersey in style in front of a home crowd.

Charlotte Worthington: SEVENTH

Olympic champion Worthington made her return to international competition with a seventh-place finish in Glasgow.

Charlotte Worthington scored a 76.70 to get a top ten finish after a challenging Olympic cycle.

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