Great Britain topped the medal table at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships last week for the first time since 2023.
The squad collected 27 medals at the event in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, including eight golds, 12 silvers and seven bronzes. The next best nation was Australia, with 21 medals, of which seven were gold.
Four-time Paralympic cycling champion Kadeena Cox helped lead Britain’s gold rush, returning to the top step – twice – at the World Championships after a two-year rainbow drought.
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Not only did the 35-year-old win the kilometre time trial and sprint events in the C4 classification, she also set world records in both barely a day apart: 1:09.545 in the kilo on Friday, and 11.409 seconds in her flying 200m qualifier for the sprint on Saturday morning.
“15 hours… 2 WR,” Cox wrote on Instagram. “The last time I had 24 hours this crazy was Tokyo 2021 [when she won two gold medals – ed.]. And honestly I did not see it coming because I’ve been so under the weather and not feeling like myself.
“I came here to claim the flying 200m WR and I’m buzzing to have also broken the kilo world record.”
Tandem glory
Ball and Pope are a golden force in the tandem.
(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWPix)
Three new rainbow jerseys went the way of tandem pair James Ball and Aaron Pope, who only joined forces two months ago, but on their Worlds debut, scooped gold medals in the kilo, sprint and mixed team sprint alongside Lizzi Jordan and Anna Whitworth-Hay.
“A crazy eight weeks together,” Ball, a now 10-time world champion, toasted on Instagram.
The treble was made even more impressive by the fact that Pope, a former kilo national champion, only took up tandem piloting this year. In his first major event, he helped guide the now-retired Neil Fachie to two golds for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
Paralympic champions Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl earned their sixth track world title together, this time in the tandem sprint.
Five-star Graham
Graham roared away with three laps to go in the scratch race.
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWPix)
No British rider took home more silverware from the Netherlands last week than Fin Graham, who signed his name on five medals: one gold, two silvers and two bronzes.
The 24-year-old from the Highlands found himself up against stiff competition in the C3 classification, forced to watch New Zealand’s Devon Briggs win three gold medals before him.
On the final day of competition, though, Graham finally got the better of Briggs, attacking with three laps to go in the scratch race to win his first track world title since 2023. “What an amazing way to end the year,” he said.
There was also a maiden rainbow jersey for 27-year-old Rebecca Newark in the C5 kilo. A former cricketer, Newark only came across to para-cycling four years ago, and was competing on what proved to be a memorable Track Worlds debut.
Newark earned her first rainbow jersey.
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWPix)
All the GB medallists
Gold
Men’s C3 scratch race – Fin Graham
Men’s tandem 1km TT – James Ball and Aaron Pope
Men’s tandem sprint – James Ball and Aaron Pope
Mixed tandem team sprint – Lizzi Jordan, Anna Whitworth-Hay, James Ball and Aaron Pope
Women’s C4 1km TT – Kadeena Cox
Women’s C4 sprint – Kadeena Cox
Women’s C5 1km TT – Rebecca Newark
Women’s tandem sprint – Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl
Silver
Men’s C3 elimination – Fin Graham
Men’s C4 1km TT – Jody Cundy
Men’s C4 elimination – Archie Atkinson
Men’s C4 scratch – Archie Atkinson
Men’s tandem IP – Morgan Fice-Noyes and Chris Latham
Women’s C2 elimination – Millie Cass
Women’s C2 scratch – Millie Cass
Women’s C2 sprint – Elisabeth Simpson
Women’s C5 scratch – Morgan Newberry
Women’s tandem 1km TT – Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl
Women’s tandem IP – Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl
C1-5 mixed team sprint – Kadeena Cox, Fin Graham and Jody Cundy
Bronze
Men’s C3 1km TT – Fin Graham
Men’s C3 scratch – Jacob Smith
Men’s C3 sprint – Fin Graham
Men’s C4 sprint – Archie Atkinson
Women’s C5 scratch – Crystal Lane-Wright
Women’s tandem 1km TT – Lizzi Jordan and Anna Whitworth-Hay
Women’s tandem sprint – Lizzi Jordan and Anna Whitworth-Hay