The 2022 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships

The 2022 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships came to a thrilling end after four days of intense action as Great Britain took first place in the medal rankings with twenty-eight medals, including twenty world titles which was followed by four silver medals and four bronze medals. In this outstanding performance by the British team, several well-known figures rose to the challenge and once again managed to make headlines as the British para cyclists maintained their dominance in the international competition. With 19 and 17 medals, respectively, Australia and France managed to finish second and third as their closest rivals at this competition. 

The list of notable performers on Great Britain's roster was extensive, and they did not fall short when the time came to perform. On the second day of competition, double Paralympic champion Neil Fachie led a British sweep in the MB 1 km time trial and shared the podium with Matthew Rotherham in the men's B sprint. This was Fachie’s 15th world championship victory. Jason Cundy a seasoned para cyclist demonstrated his best once again, as the 44-year-old qualified in the first position in the men's C4 1km time trial and won his 13th global championship in this discipline. 

Despite having a shaky start cycling great and fellow 44-year-old Sarah Storey dominated the WC5 3km individual pursuit qualifiers and the final event as she won the individual pursuit in the C5 class. Great Britain’s Katie Toft also enjoyed a memorable victory on that day as she ended up winning the WC1 500m time trial in 47.212secs and claimed her sixth title in this event. In addition to these dominant victories some of the British Athletes also managed to break the records as Jaco Van Gass recorded his fastest time of 1:05.525 in the men’s C3 1km time trial qualifiers, breaking his own world record. The time recorded by the two-time gold medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics saw him move ahead of his compatriot Finley Graham by 2.099secs. In another heart-warming moment, Great Britain's Finlay Graham dedicated his gold in the C3 15km scratch race to his teammate, Paralympic medallist George Peasgood, who suffered a brain injury in a recent training crash.

The tumbling of records continued for Great Britain thanks to Toft (WC1) and Blaine Hunt (MC5) in the omnium-flying 200m and this event also saw hosts France rewrite the history books as Marie Patouillet recorded the fastest time in the WC5 omnium–flying 200m category. Marie’s compatriot and arguably the best performing French Para cyclist, Alexandre Leaute smashed the world record in the men’s C2 omnium–200m flying start and won gold on Day 2 in the men’s C2 1km time trial.

In other notable performances Spain’s Ricardo Ten finished the World Championships as the most successful Para cyclist overall and left the world championships on a high with three gold medals and one silver. Netherlands’ Caroline Groot continued her dominance and made a hat-trick of 500m time trial victories as she once again secured the gold medal, despite her initial crash.