The best Junior track cyclists in the world are about to reunite for the 49th edition of the UCI Junior Track World Championships, held every year since 1975, except for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And they will do so in an unprecedented venue, as China becomes the 26th country to host the event, in the Luoyang velodrome, from Wednesday 21 August 2024 until Sunday 25th.
Chinese fans are used to seeing their athletes shine at the highest levels in international competition. Very recently, the Luoyang velodrome was the setting for the women’s team sprint world record, established in June, before it was beaten at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
From Lausanne to Luoyang
The first edition of the event for 17-18-year-olds was held in Lausanne (Switzerland). The UCI Junior Track World Championships then travelled to Liège (Belgium) in 1976, and Vienna (Austria) the next year, before they crossed the Atlantic Ocean for three American editions in a row: Washington DC (USA), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Mexico City (Mexico).
Since then, the UCI Junior Track World Championships have been held all around the world. New Zealand was the first nation from Oceania to host the event, in Whanganui (1983). Morocco led the way for Africa (Casablanca 1986). Asia then joined the celebrations, from South Korea (Seoul 2014) to China (Luoyang 2024), passing by Kazakhstan (Astana 2015) and Israel (Tel Aviv 2022).
New horizons are always opened up. And it will be the case again in 2025, as the modern installations of Apeldoorn (one of the very first cities to host the UCI Road World Championships, in 1925) are set to host the UCI Junior Track World Championships for the first time in the Netherlands. The event will then return to Belgium (Heusden-Zolder 2026) and France (Haute-Savoie 2027) as part of the second combined UCI Cycling World Championships.
From Dill-Bundi to Andrews
Naturally, dozens of different flags are also represented in the list of riders who have shone in the event, and hopefuls who are lining up this week in China. As far back as 1975, riders from eight different countries claimed medals across the four events contested in Switzerland. Among them, Switzerland’s Robert Dill-Bundi who went on to become Olympic Champion (in the individual pursuit, at Moscow 1980) and UCI World Champion (in the keirin, at Barcelona 1984).
More recently, New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews ruled the sprint events of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after she claimed her first rainbow jerseys a few years earlier in the UCI Junior Track World Championships: first in the team sprint (with Emma Cumming) in 2016 and then in the individual pursuit in 2017.
Icons such as Germans Kristina Vogel and Maximilian Levy and China’s Guo Shuang are among the most decorated riders in the history of the UCI Junior Track World Championships.
Whose turn is it?
This year, 282 riders representing 49 nations are on the entry list to try and follow these stellar tracks. A handful of them already claimed rainbow jerseys last year in Cali, Colombia, and return for more glory in their second year in the Junior ranks: Australia’s Ryan Tayte, Spain’s Rubén Sánchez, Colombia’s Stefany Cuadrado, France’s Mélanie Dupin and Léane Tabu, Italy’s Anita Baima and Australia’s Nicole Duncan.
Medals are up for grabs in 22 events (11 for the female athletes and the same for the men): the scratch, the team sprint, the elimination race, the keirin, the team pursuit, the individual pursuit, the omnium, the points race, the sprint, the time trial and the Madison.