Six titles for Great Britain on day two of the UCI 2022 Para-cycling Track World Championships

Twelve titles were decided in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France) on Friday, with Great Britain claiming half of them.

Great Britain’s latest UCI World Champions

Of Great Britain’s six titles, three came in the time trial, two in the individual pursuit and one in the Scratch Race.

The first medal of the day was decided in the WC1 500m time trial where Great Britain’s Katie Toft won gold in 47.212secs, the sixth time she’s won the C1 time trial UCI World title.

 In the MB 1km time trial, it was back-to-back titles for Great Britain’s Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham, defending their crown with a time of 59.921secs after qualifying first earlier in the day. France won silver in 1:00.184 with Great Britain also claiming bronze.

Sam Ruddock is one of the most generous athletes around. He’s worked as an athlete mentor for the Youth Sport Trust in the United Kingdom. The scheme aims to improve the lives of young people through sport. He also serves as an ambassador for Cerebral Palsy [CP] Sport. But that generosity of spirit was absent in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome as the 32-year-old dominated the MC1 1km time trial, qualifying first in 1:13.802 then taking gold in the final ahead of Spain’s Ricardo Ten Argiles, who won gold in yesterday’s MC1 Scratch Race. Malaysia’s Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin won bronze.

Dame Sarah Storey experienced something rare in her long and illustrious career on day one – a race without a medal. The 44-year-old was just pipped for a podium spot, finishing fourth in the WC5 500m time trial. Professional that she is, Storey dusted herself down and dominated the WC5 3km individual pursuit qualifiers and final. France’s Heidi Gaugain took silver and Nicole Murray (NZL) beat Great Britain’s Morgan Newberry to win bronze.

Great Britain shone again in the WB 3km individual pursuit with Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl qualifying fastest, in 3:23.656, followed by teammates Lizzie Jordan and Corinne Hall (pilot). The two British tandems finished the final in the same order, with France taking bronze.

Fresh from winning the Men’s C3 Scratch Race on day one, Fin Graham sailed through the individual pursuit qualifications, nearly 8secs ahead of his fellow finalist, Matthijs Drenth (NED). It’d have taken a turnaround of gargantuan proportions for Graham to lose gold. And it didn’t happen. Graham took his second title of the UCI 2022 Para-cycling Track World Championships in 3:24.956. Drenth followed in 3:30.797 for silver. In the bronze match-up, Australia’s David Nicholas beat Spain’s Eduardo Santas Asensio.

Australia celebrates three more titles

Australia’s Amanda Reid was the hot favourite for the WC2 500m time trial final after blitzing the qualifiers in 38.571secs via an average speed of 46.667km/hr. The next-fastest qualifier was Brazil’s Sabrina Custodia da Silva in 43.341secs, nearly 5secs down on the five-time UCI World Champion and two-time Paralympic gold medallist. Switzerland’s Flurina Rigling qualified third in 43.828secs. Come the final, there was only ever going to be one winner and Reid duly grabbed gold in 38.602secs. Custodia da Silva won silver with Rigling taking bronze.

Australia’s Emily Petricola shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on a medal in yesterday’s WC4 500m Time Trial by qualifying first for the WC4 3km individual pursuit final in 3:44.000. This is arguably the 42-year-old’s strongest discipline, which she showed at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics when she won gold in a world record time of 3:38.061. The USA’s Samantha Bosco would be her opposition in the final, though she’d have to find something extra after finishing over 6secs down on Petricola in the qualifiers. She couldn’t. Petricola unleashed a 3:42.229 effort to win gold. Bosco finished just under 7secs back for silver. Australia’s Meg Lemon beat fellow antipodean Anna Grace Taylor (NZL) for bronze.

Alistair Donohoe won his third MC5 5km Scratch Race UCI World title in succession. France’s Dorian Foulon had to settle for silver with the Netherlands’ Daniel Abraham Gebru winning bronze.

More wins for Metelka, Premble and Léaute

Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka took to Instagram to say how he could not believe he won his 13th UCI World title in yesterday’s MC4 4km individual pursuit. Well, he must be in shock today as he racked up gold medal number 14 in the MC4 15km Scratch Race. Once again, the 36-year-old was in imperious form as he took the win ahead of Germany’s Fabian Doring in second and the USA’s John Terrell in third. 

After success in yesterday’s Omnium – 200m flying start, Canada’s Mel Premble rode a superb WC3 10km Scratch Race to win gold. The Netherlands’ Aniek van den Aarssen followed up yesterday’s WC3 500m time trial gold with silver. The USA’s Clara Brown took bronze.

Day one of the UCI 2022 Para-cycling Track World Championships saw France’s Alexandre Léaute smash the world record in the Men’s C2 Omnium – Flying 200m Start. The 2020 Paralympic gold medallist (C2 Individual Pursuit) carried that form, and energy, over to the MC2 1km time trial as he qualified fastest in 1:08.365. Japan’s Shota Kawamoto recorded the second-fastest time of 1:10.942 with Australia’s Gordon Allan the third-fastest qualifier in 1:11.226. Léaute recovered swiftly to take gold later in the day (1:08.503). Kawamoto took silver with Allan in third.

Brief explanation of para-cycling sport classes on the track

C – Cyclist: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary (divided into different sport classes - 1 to 5 - with the lower the number indicating greater impairment).

B – Visually impaired: tandem bicycle ridden with sighted pilot

Full results and live timing