Track World Championships: Harrie Lavreysen wins fourth gold medal in Chile and sets new career high of 20 titles

Sunday concluded the fifth day of competition at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships in the Peñalolén velodrome in Santiago, Chile. Five titles remained for the taking, with the Points Race and Keirin for the women, and the Sprint, Madison and Elimination races for the men.

Dutch legend Harrie Lavreysen made history on the final day by earning his 20th career gold medal, winning another four titles at these World Championships. He also set the record in sweeping all four sprint events.

"This is really not normal. I said beforehand that it would be exciting, with the kilometer time trial under my belt, but I felt really great again today," Lavreysen told NOS at the velodrome, which was also report by Wielerflits.

"I got through the semi-final well and had a lot of confidence in my legs. I watched a lot of stages. It seemed difficult to overtake here, but it was possible. I prepared very well and was able to execute."

Men's Sprint

The favourite to repeat as the Men's Sprint winner was Lavreysen, who had won this event six times. He delivered on Sunday for a seventh rainbow jersey in the Sprint with scorching speed over Matthew Richardson (Great Britain).

This was the Dutchman's fourth gold medal of the Championships. The 28-year-old opened the competitions in Chile with a world title in the team sprint on Wednesday, the next two days won the Keirin and the 1k time trial, which made him the first man to sweep all four sprint events in one World Championship.

Leigh Hoffman (Australia) earned the bronze with wins in the final heats against Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago), who replicated his fourth-place finish from a year ago.

The rematch between Lavreysen and Dutch compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland never materialised, as Hoogland, last year's silver medalist, was ousted by Hoffman in the quarterfinals.

The qualifying and quarterfinal rounds were contested Saturday night in Santiago. Once at the quarters, Great Britain's Richardson overcame Japan's Kaiya Ota in two relatively straightforward matches, diving down to spring a surprise on his rival in the first race, and dominating the second.

France's Reyan Helal could do nothing about Lavreysen of the Netherlands, who won with relative ease over two matches.

Trinidad and Tobago's Paul used his flying 200m speed to excellent effect to win both of his races against Israel's Mikhail Yakovlev.

The biggest shock of the quarterfinals came when Hoffman twice managed to hold the wheel of the big Dutchman heading into the final sprint for the line, jumping him on the line in both races to deny Hoogland a tilt at a medal.

Women's Keirin

Defending Women's Keirin world champion Mina Sato (Japan) defended her title on Sunday, surviving a semifinal round to win the overall in the finals. Emma Finucane (Great Britain), who was fourth last year, earned the silver medal, with Lorena Cuadrado of Colombia securing the bronze.

Last year's silver medallist Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands) rode safely through round one, but then began to struggle a bit in the quarters and semis. She finished a distance seventh.

Men's Madison

Belgian duo Lindsay de Vilder and Fabio Van Den Bossche secured its first Men's Madison World Championships gold in 13 years following a ferocious battle with Great Britain's Josh Tarling and Mark Stewart.

In the last race of the 2025 Championships, De Vilder and Van Den Bossche opened up an early lead in the sprints and with a bonus lap, only for Tarling and Stewart to cut back on their advantage in drastic fashion, coming to within four points of the Belgians.

However, Stewart then began to fall off the pace, allowing Belgium to re-open their advantage ahead of the final lap sprint.

"I had the feeling they weren't as good as us, which only gave us confidence," De Vilder told sporza.be as he and Van Den Bossche celebrated gold after taking bronze in 2023 and silver in 2024 in the same discipline.

"The more points we could get against the British, the safer we were. In principle, we only had to watch one team."

"We saw our moment to go for it. It became a perfect race. We were able to put everyone under pressure," Van Den Bossche added.

Meanwhile the fight for the third spot on the winner's podium ended with an unexpected turnaround for Denmark after they were initially classified as fourth.

Half an hour after the race was completed, however, Niklas Larsen and Lasse Norman Hansen were told they had been awarded the bronze instead of Germany after officials realised the Danish duo had not been correctly credited with a lap.

Men's Elimination

Elia Viviani secured the perfect ending to his professional career by clinching a last gold medal in the Track World Championships in Chile, claiming the top spot ahead of New Zealand's Campbell Stewart.

Viviani's final duel against Stewart was taken in relatively comfortable style, after there were some surprising early eliminations like defending champion Tobias Hansen of Denmark. Also out early was another top favourite, Jules Hesters of Belgium.

Viviani forged on regardless, the 36-year-old not panicking when with four riders remaining, Netherlands rival Yoeri Havik launched a late attack to guarantee himself the bronze.

Stewart and Viviani caught their Dutch challenger and then battled it out for the win, with Viviani claiming the fifth and last World Championships gold medal of his career, and third elimination title in four years.

"It was dicy out there at times but after the omnium yesterday, I learned a few things," Stewart said later in a statement published by CyclingNewZealand.

"I managed to ride the bubbles and push at the right times. In the end I probably gave Viviani the perfect retirement gift - it was close and I gave it my all but couldn't quite get there."

Women's points

A spectacular late comeback netted Yareli Acevedo Mendoza Mexico's second World Championships women's track gold medal in history and its first in 24 years since Nancy Contreras conquered the 500 metres time trial back in 2001.

Running fifth with ten laps to go, Acevedo Mendoza launched a spectacular attack that allowed her to lap the field, pick up 20 points and move into the top position overall with 63 points.

The silver went to Olympic medallist Anna Morris with 58, with Bryony Botha of New Zealand, leading the field before Acevedo Mendoza blasted ahead in the finale, claiming the bronze.

."I went in with full intent and tried to go with every move, which seemed to work well in my favour," Botha said in a statement reported by RNZ about her sixth World Championships medal and New Zealand's fifth of the World Championships

"I was seeing a bit red over the last 20 laps and tried to survive."

"I actually came off the track thinking I was fourth or fifth, but my coach told me I was third. I started crying - I couldn't believe it."