Track Worlds: Leth ousts Kopecky for women's Points gold, Lavreysen outduels Hoogland in Dutch 1-2 in men's Sprint

On the fifth and final day of the 2024 UCI Track World Championships, five world titles were decided at Ballerup Super Arena outside Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Great Britain, with a total of 13 event medals, and the Netherlands, with 11 event medals, were the top two countries at Track Worlds. Great Britain added four to their talley on the final day in the women’s Points and Keirin races as well as the men’s Elimination and Madison races.

Host nation Denmark took two gold medals on the fifth and final day of competition at the Ballerup Super Arena outside Copenhagen to match Great Britain and the Netherlands with four gold medals. Denmark also had two silver and a bronze to give them seven total, one better than Japan, who had six event medals. New Zealand, Belgium and Italy each earned four total medals.

Dutch dominance by Lavreysen in men's Sprint

Harrie Lavreysen outdueled Jeffrey Hoogland in a Dutch showdown for the men's Sprint title at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships. It was Lavreysen's third gold medal of the week at the Ballerup Super Arena, and a sixth consecutive Sprint world championship.

For the second time he went up against his compatriot Hoogland, defeating him in the men's time trial. He also was part of the Dutch squad, with Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, who won the gold in the men's Team Sprint. 

The 27-year-old Lavreysen swept both races against Hoogland, adding a 16th career gold to his world championships domination, as well as holding five Olympic gold medals, three of those earned in Paris. 

"I knew I was on the right track. And I knew that record [of 14 world titles] could be broken one day. The Track World Championships have been held for over 100 years and have many great records and rankings. That I can top one of those lists is very special," Lavreysen told Nos.nl after the race.

"I knew I had to go for the kilometre time trial at some point. This year seemed perfect for it, right after the Olympics. And I really enjoyed it today."

Kaiya Ota (Japan) defeated last year's silver medallist Nicholas Paul (Trinidad & Tobago) and earned the bronze medal. Ota, third in the Sprint at the Tokyo Olympic Games, also was part of Japan's bronze medal finish this week in the men's Team Sprint. 

In the semifinals, Lavreysen defeated Ota in back-to-back races, while Hoogland needed a decider to move to the gold medal round ahead of Paul. It was the second round that Hoogland needed a decider round to continue, as he split races on Saturday's quarterfinals against Mikhail Yakovlev (Israel) and moved on with the decider victory by a slim 0:00:0.018 margin. 

Women's Points Race

Julie Leth (Denmark) won the gold medal in the women's Points race, going three points better than defending champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), who took the silver medal.

Lara Gillespie (Ireland) took the bronze, one point behind Kopecky, and finished just ahead of New Zealand's Ally Wollaston.

Kopecky experienced a mechanical issue with her chain before the final sprint, which kept her from winning a third world title in the Points race (having previously won in 2021 and 2023). The Belgian all-rounder also won the silver in the Elimination race this week.

"This silver is a bit harder to accept than the one from the elimination. Well, it is still a World Championship and it is still a medal. We have to be satisfied with it in a way, but I had hoped for more. It was not meant to be," Kopecky said to Sporza.

"It was still difficult to get 4 points back on Leth. Without the chain problem I would probably have been stranded on one point, so that would not have changed the final result."

Jennifer Valente (United States of America), Mizuki Ikeda (Japan) and Alexandra Manly (Australia) took a lap and 20 points early in the race. Then Leth launched a lethal attack and moved into the lead with lap bonus. 

With just 10 laps remaining, Kopecky pushed the pace and could only be followed by Leth, Daniela Campos (Portugal), Marit Raaijmakers (Netherlands) and Neah Evans (Great Britain). Evans was one of the riders brought down in a crash in the final bend while Kopecky could not counter the final sprint of Leth, who took the bonus points.

The 32-year-old Leth celebrated her second gold of the week, adding to her Team Pursuit medal, and had a special celebration with the crowd as she heads to retirement. 

Men's Elimination Race

Denmark's Tobias Aagaard Hansen took the rainbow jersey as he outpaced two-time world champion Elia Viviani (Italy) in the men's Elimination race on Sunday. Dylan Bibic (Canada) took the bronze. But it was far from a straightforward event, as the race saw a number of crashes as well as relegations of three riders for causing disruptions in the frenzied competition.

Jules Hesters (Belgium) was removed and posted a result of 18th for "dangerous riding" in a close pass with Edibaldo Maldonado Rayas (Mexico). Three laps later Blake Agnoletto (Australia) was relegated for causing a crash.

The loudest controversy struck when Jan-Willem van Schip (Netherlands) was relegated from the final four riders and then disqualified for "improper conduct".

After Diogo Narciso (Portugal) was dismissed by Van Schip to fifth place, officials saw the result otherwise. On the next pass with Bibic the trailing rider in fourth, the race jury ruled Van Schip as the dropped rider for "dangerous riding" when he interfered with Narciso on the previous lap.

Van Schip stormed off the track, demonstrating his displeasure by cursing and directing an obscene gesture toward the UCI officials in front of the spectators. He was disqualified "for assault, intimidation, insults, threats, improper conduct directed at any other person".  

While Van Schip's behaviour could have spoiled the event, the Danish crowd went on to celebrate Hansen's success. He added a third medal for Denmark, having been part of the gold medal Team Pursuit effort alongside Carl-Frederik Bevort, Niklas Larsen, and Frederik Rodenberg Madsen and taking a silver in the Scratch race, both on Thursday.

Women's Keirin

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Mina Sato ensured that Japan could lay claim to both Keirin world titles at this year’s Track Worlds following Kento Yamasaki’s victory in the men’s race earlier this week.

Sato took the gold when she came out from the wheel of sprint champion Emma Finucane, the British rider leading the way into the final lap of the race.

Rounding the turn into the back straight, Sato sped around the outside as she launched her bid for glory. She edged around the outside of the final corner to nip into the lead with perfect timing to take home the rainbow jersey by a bike length.

Behind Sato, Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands) also managed to make her way past Finucane, just getting past metres ahead of the finish line for the silver. 

Katy Marchant (Great Britain) was another late mover, also nudging past Finucane in a photo finish to claim bronze.

Sato’s win is her first at the Track Worlds following silver medals in 2021 and 2022. This year she has won the UCI Nations Cup and Japan Track Cup, meaning the world title rounds out an incredibly successful season.

The wins from Yamasaki and Sato mark the first Keirin world titles for Japan since 1987, when Harumi Honda won the men’s title in Vienna.

Germany wins Men's Madison

Germany scored victory in the men’s Madison as Tim Torn Teutenberg and Roger Kluge took home rainbow jerseys ahead of Belgium and Denmark in the final event of the Track World Championships on Sunday.

The Germans finished with 76 points to Belgium’s 60. Denmark narrowly missed out on the silver medal with 59 points, while Portugal finished in fourth on 53 points.

38-year-old Kluge, a Madison world champion in 2018 and 2019, and 22-year-old Teutenberg were among the early leaders in the event along with Portuguese brothers Ivo and Rui Oliveira.

Belgian pair Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio Van den Bossche and the Danish duo Niklas Larsen and Michael Mørkøv were forced into catch-up mode, winning sprints along the way in order to try and close the points gap.

The podium squads were up front in the hunt for points at the midway stage, with Dutch pairing Yoeri Havik and Vincent Hoppezak and Portugal also in the mix.

Germany were the most consistent team, however, extending their lead and avoiding pressure from other teams to ensure they enjoyed a good lead heading into the final phase. The battle that remained was over silver and bronze and it came down to the death as Belgium surged ahead at the last sprint, picking up four points to Denmark’s two and nabbing second place.

“Indescribable. A great feeling. I always dreamed of becoming world champion and now it’s real,” Teutenberg said after the race before Kluge spoke about their age difference, preparation, and bouncing back from the disappointment of coming fifth at the Paris Olympics.

“In the end, even if there’s generations between, age doesn’t matter,” Kluge said. “He’s young but he’s been a working professional for years already. We had two days of preparation at home to get clear about our tactics. We came well prepared, even if I didn’t have the signs on Friday that it could go this well.

“Madison is a special race and I’m happy I could show off that I still have the legs to go for it. In Paris we were very unlucky and I’m happy that we could finish off the season here.”