Great Britain rounded off a fantastic 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championship campaign in Ballerup, securing a total of 13 medals, with the women’s points, men’s elimination, women’s keirin, and men’s Madison races concluding the final day of competition.

Women’s keirin

The women’s keirin racing started confidently with both Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant sailing through their qualifying rounds with ease.

Finucane dominated her quarter-final. Starting from the fourth position, she quickly moved to the front with three laps to go, holding off the pack to sneak across the line first and into the semi-finals.

Marchant came from fifth position, accelerating throughout the race and moving over the top with one lap to go. Creating space between her and the rest of the group with a final push on the home straight, she too moved into the next round. 

Marchant’s semi-final ride saw her lead from the front for the majority, leaving other riders to scrap for places behind her as she pressed on into the final with relative ease.

Finucane had to push hard as Alessia McCaig (Australia) and Nurul Mohd Asri (Malaysia) went off the front early. The sprint world champion bridged the gap over the next two laps before unleashing her phenomenal speed in the final bend to finish second place and join her teammate in the final.

In the final, Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands) attacked hard with two laps to go, followed by Finucane who went over the top to position herself at the head of the race going into the final lap. Marchant sat in fifth place, with Finucane storming at the front as the group bunched together all vying for position.

Finucane went low onto the black line, while Mina Sato (Japan) headed off the front to take the win, with Marchant closing in from behind, going long over the top of the race to come home with the bronze medal. Finucane finished fourth.

On how the race unfolded, Marchant said: “I try to go into keirins with not too much of a plan. I think sometimes for me if you go in with a plan it tends to unfold not the way you want it to. I think I have a really good instinct on racing, and I've raced really well all day today. Tactually today I don't think I absolutely nailed that final which, I hate to say I feel a little bit disappointed by but yeah, to come away with a bronze medal.

Reflecting on the week: “It’s been huge and mentally really challenging and it’s one I’m really really proud of. It’s been by far my most successful world championships and it’s been really tough but we’ve used each other to get through this and obviously the result we got with the team sprint gave us really good momentum. I’m kind of glad it’s over, but I have had a really amazing week and one that I will take forward and learn form.”

Women’s points race

Neah Evans had mixed fortunes in the women’s points race, collecting good sprint points and taking a lap before an unfortunate crash in the last lap saw her out of contention for the final sprint points to finish eighth overall.

A conservative start saw Evans struggling to get to the front, but she continued to fight for position. Three laps before the sprint, Evans rode away with Ally Wollaston (New Zealand) and Victoire Berteau (France) on her wheel to take her first five points of the race and push her into second behind Berteau and Wollaston.

Not long after, Jennifer Valente (USA), Japan’s Mizuki Ikeda (Japan) and Alexandra Manly (Australia) took a lap and 20 points to move up into the podium position.They were followed in quick succession by Marit Raaijmakers (Netherlands), Julie Leth (Denmark), Akvile Gedraityte (Lithuania) and Evans, with a chase group of five behind as Evans took more sprint points, now in fifth place.

Leth continued to make attacks throughout, often being reeled back in by the bunch before one stuck,  with the Danish rider gaining a lap to propel her to the top of the leaderboard. With 10 laps to go Leth, Wollaston and Kopecky made up the podium spots with five points between them.

Heading into the ninth sprint, a group of five made it off the front, including Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Leth, Raaijmakers, Daniela Campos (Portugal) and Evans, with Evans just missing out on sprint points as the race splintered behind them.

Evans sat in sixth place, eight points off the podium with eight laps to go as the bunch reeled the front group back in. As the race wound up, it was a game of cat and mouse as riders waited to see who would flinch and commit to the final sprint.

As the bunch accelerated and riders fought for space, Evans tried to make her way through to the front and got caught up in a crash, bringing her down in the final bend to finish eighth with 27 points.

Men’s elimination

In a stop-start race littered with crashes, Noah Hobbs worked hard and placed himself well throughout to avoid elimination until the final laps of the race, finishing seventh overall.

In a close bunch, Hobbs positioned himself well in the midst of the action during the preliminary laps to stay safe. A clash of wheels at the back of the race heading into a sprint saw Mario Anguela Yaguez (Spain) come down and the race neutralised. With Anguela Yaguez back in the race, Hobbs managed to position high on the track to give himself options heading into the sprint. 

Having ridden comfortably in the opening stages, with eight riders left, Hobbs worked smartly to get into the right positions and avoid elimination, timing his efforts well to pip his competitors to the line and stay in the race.

With seven riders still racing, Hobbs ran out of steam and was eventually eliminated to finish seventh overall, his second top 10 finish of his first world championships.

Men’s Madison

An attacking men’s Madison race saw Mark Stewart and Ethan Hayter fire to fifth position in the final race of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup.

A steady start saw Great Britain stay within touching distance of early points, but just were outside the awarding places. 

With 135 laps to go, Hayter made a solo break but was reeled back in. The British rider continued to remain at the front of the race, scooping up Great Britain’s first point in the seventh sprint lap. Germany and Portugal asserted themselves with the two nations gaining a lap and securing 20 points each. 

Denmark and the Netherlands counterattacked in a bid for their own lap points, with Hayter chasing hard behind into the next sprint to secure another single point. Nearing the halfway mark, the race settled briefly with Switzerland going solo off the front.

In the ninth sprint, Hayter took another point for the GB pair as the field splintered under the rapid pace. The race calmed with 100 laps to go, but Stewart was eager to capitalise and attacked from the front. The Scottish rider dragged out the bunch, and swung up as he was unable to get away solo. 

As breaks continued to go off the front, Belgium. Germany and the Netherlands led into the 12th sprint, with Hayter in the chasing group and sticking closely to Denmark’s wheel. Great Britain continued to push on, and found themselves in no man’s land, before Denmark bridged over and the pair worked together in the chase.

As the front three gained a lap, it looked as if Great Britain were losing Denmark’s wheel, but a late turn of speed saw them take five points in the 15th sprint, and then gained the 20-lap bonus to move into fifth place on 28 points.

Olympic champions Portugal were quick to gain another lap as Germany led the chase behind with 43 laps to go. The gained lap saw GB pushed into sixth place. 

A last gasp effort saw Stewart launch an attack with 21 laps to go. Stewart took the maximum five points, as Denmark joined them in an attempt to gain a lap. Belgium and the Netherlands also briged over, with the four working together with 15 laps to go. 

Germany continued to chase hard and foiled GB’s chances, bridging the gap and dragging the peloton over. The German’s continued to work off the front to extend their lead as Great Britain were still in touching distance of the podium in sixth place on 33 points. Hayter managed to get on Germany’s wheel with Italy in tow, before a big attack from Belgium with six laps remaining saw Denmark chasing after them. Italy, Great Britain, Portugal and Denmark fought for the final sprint. 

A huge turn of speed in the final straight saw Stewart take maximum points to cross the line first, and finish in fifth position on 43 points.

Over the course of these championships, Great Britain have won four gold, four silver and five bronze medals to equal their most successful track worlds ever.