Track World Championships: Netherlands off to flying start with three gold medals out of three on day 1

Three titles were on the line on the opening day of racing at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships in the Peñalolén velodrome in Santiago, Chile.

The first day of competition decided the gold medallists in the women's scratch, men's team sprint and women's team sprint.

Women's Scratch

Defending champion Lorena Wiebes fulfilled her status as top favourite for the rainbow jersey, although she had to face off a major surprise in the finale after Lithuanian Olivijia Baleistyte tried to ambush the Dutch star.

Wiebes was initially successful at closing down any challenges, only for Baleistyte suddenly to go clear, putting Wiebes on the defensive. However, rather than be caught out too early and risk a counter-move, Wiebes opted to take things calmly before opening up the throttle to bring back her rival in the last two laps.

Her calculation initially paid off well as Baleistyte burned herself out and was reeled in, but just as one challenge was extinguished by the Netherlands racer, another ignited. Denmark's former road World Chamìon Amalie Dideriksen launched a powerful sprint in the final lap.

That forced Wiebes to dig deep to first catch her rival and come past just in time for gold – her second in 10 days after the gravel World Championships. The bronze, meanwhile, went to Prudence Fowler of New Zealand.

Women's Team Sprint

The Netherlands women made history in the team sprint as the Dutch trio of Kimberlee Kalee, Hetty van de Wouw, and Steffie van der Peet fended off Great Britain in the final to claim their country's first ever gold in that category.

After an impressive opening lap by the Netherlands, multiple World Champion Emma Finucane made her presence felt in the middle section of the race for the Dutch team's top rivals, notably lifting the British squad's speed on the second lap.

However, the Netherlands had no problem maintaining their advantage in the finale, staying ahead to keep their country firmly at the top of the medals table on the opening night.

Bronze went to the Australian trio of Kristine Perkins, Molly McGill and Alessia McCaig, seeing off Poland in the fight for the final spot on the podium.

Men's Team Sprint

There were no surprises in the men's team sprint in this year's Track World Championships as the Netherlands trio of Roy van den Berg, Jeffrey Hoogland, and Harrie Lavreysen racked up yet another gold medal, seeing off Great Britain in a thrilling finale.

For the seventh time out of a possible eight, the Dutch trio claimed the top spot, although the British got off to a flying start and remained ahead by the end of the second lap by three tenths of a second.

The GB trio of Joseph Truman, Hamish Turnbull and Matthew Richardson were unable to prevent a massive late surge by the Dutch squad, however, as the Netherlands powered ahead of their rivals in the last half lap to move three tenths of a second in front by the time they crossed their line.

While the most recent gold medallists in Tokyo and Paris Olympics in the speciality lived up to expectations, France were able to take their first visit to the podium of the 2025 thanks to their men's team sprint squad defeating Japan for bronze.

Qualification rounds

Earlier in the day, the battle for the top eight spots in the women's and men's team pursuits were also decided.

In the women's team pursuit, Italy were the fastest ahead of Great Britain and Germany, with Australia, Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, and Poland rounding out the top spots in the classification.

In the men's equivalent qualifying round, Denmark, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, USA, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland all proceeded through to the first round of the men's Team Pursuit, held later the same day and which saw Denmark then going through to Thursday's final against Australia, while New Zealand face the USA in the battle for bronze.