Four world titles were on the line on Saturday at the fourth day of racing at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships at Ballerup Super Arena outside Copenhagen, Denmark. The penultimate day of competition decided the gold medallists in the women's 500m Time Trial, women's Madison, women's Individual Pursuit and men's Omnium.
Women's Individual Pursuit
In a stunning gold medal finale, Anna Morris (Great Britain) won the world title in the women's Individual Pursuit, overtaking reigning world champion Chloé Dygert (United States of America) with two laps to go.
While Morris claimed the rainbow jersey in a time of 3:16.560, it was Dygert who came away with a new world record, setting the new best time of 3:15.663 in qualifying, which eclipsed the record time she set in 2020.
"I’m in shock, I was just trying to ride for a PB really and see what I could do. To be world champion, I’m speechless," Morris said in a British Cycling media release.
“I tried to settle into a slightly faster pace and I was getting good feedback from Cam Meyer, my coach on the trackside. He was giving me lap splits and as we were getting into the final kilo he was giving me positive feedback to tell me I was getting close to Chloé and I had all my GB teammates down the back straight and I could hear them screaming so I thought maybe, you’ve just got to dig deep here and give it all you’ve got and see where you end up.”
Dygert held the lead for 3,250 metres of the race and then the small margin began to fade. Morris posted a better time with two laps to go and held on for the victory, keeping Dygert from taking a fifth gold medal in the event.
It was a comfortable bronze medal for New Zealand's Bryony Botha, who also finished third in 2023. This time she distanced Franziska Brausse (Germany), who had earned a silver last year and went away empty-handed.
Women's Madison
Home favourites Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth captured the world title in the women's Madison for Denmark on Saturday. They vaulted from four places down at less than 20 laps to go by earning lap points, holding off France and Great Britain.
France's Victoire Berteau and Marion Borras earned the silver, earning a one-point advantage over Great Britain's Neah Evans and Katie Archibald, who took the bronze.
Great Britain's Archibald used the final pass to push across the line and earn 10 points, but it was just shy by one point France's total of 43. The home crowd responded to a chorus of loud cheers as Denmark scored two final points at the finish to secure the gold, the total haul at 46.
A total of 17 two-rider teams took the track for the 120-lap event. There were several missed exchanges in the early going as riders headed to the first sprint points on offer, taken by Team France.
France maintained the lead with 40 laps to go and the standings remained close with the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain and Denmark. The Danish team went on the attack and won sprint points on the next two sprints.
With 15 laps to go, Denmark remained aggressive and lapped the field to jump into first place, with an 18-point advantage over France. They would be the fourth and final team to earn lap points and it proved to be decisive.
Great Britain took the last of the sprints on offer, and the frantic pace settled a bit with 9 laps to go. Then Belgium attacked over the next two laps and Denmark marked the move to stay close to the front along with France and the Netherlands.
Women's 500m Time Trial
Iana Burlakova (Individual Neutral Athletes) won the women's 500m TT on the fourth day of racing at the UCI Track World Championships with a winning time of 0:00:32.863. She was the only rider to go sub-33 in the 500m TT final.
Team Great Britain swept the next three positions, with Sophie Capewell, fourth in the TT at last year's track worlds, taking the silver medal in 33.010 and Katy Marchant, the reigning European champion in this distance, earning the bronze, 33.119.
Emma Finucane (Great Britain) laid down the time to beat with three riders to go in the final round and saw each of those riders eclipse her time of 33.178 to keep her one spot off the podium.
In qualifying, Burlakova set the best time at 33.002, 11 milliseconds faster than Capewell and 0.155 faster than Marchant. She was lightning fast on the first lap and sustained her speed through the line to exchange her white and black neutral kit for a rainbow jersey.
The event marked the last time this distance would be contested at the UCI World Championships, as it moves up to 1000m next year to match the same distance as the elite men.
Men's Omnium
Lindsay De Vylder (Belgium) scored an unexpected gold medal in the men's Omnium at the Track World Championships in Norway to conclude the fourth day of competition. He overcame a 28-point deficit in the 100-lap points race to move onto the top step of the podium for his first world title.
Italy's Simone Consonni took the silver medal while Yanne Dorenbos (Netherlands) held on for a bronze medal.
De Vylder has won national titles in multiple disciplines, including the Omnium, as a junior and elite on the track but has not been on a world championship podium before Saturday.
"I had such a tough period after the Olympics. I expected so much from the Olympics, and they were really bad. I totally lost confidence in myself," the new world champion said in a post-race interview for broadcasters, including FloBikes.
"Just to be on the podium at [Copenhagen] would be great, I never imagined I would win the title. This will heal the wound for sure."
Dorenbos took the early lead in the opening event on Saturday, the Scratch Race, with Simone Consonni (Italy) following in second.
Oscar Julien-Nilsson (France) then took the win in the Tempo Race, where points are available on each lap. He scored points on four laps in the first half of the race and then was among six riders who lapped the field, boosting them into contention for the victory.
Yanne Dorenbos (Netherlands) was second and Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) third, while Consonni took sixth to remain near the top of the overall standings. Spaniard Sebastian Mora Vendri attacked late in the race and scored points on the six final laps, but could not do better than seventh.
Going into the third event, Dorenbos had a 10-point advantage over Consonni, while Simon Vitzthum (Switzerland) moved from seventh to third. Nilsson-Julien vaulted up the leaderboard from 13th to fourth, and De Vylder remained quietly in the top 10.
Hayter took the win over Rui Oliveira (Portugal) in the Elimination race, with Consonni holding on for third and Dorenbos fourth. This tightened the battle for the gold medal with eight points separating Dorenbos and Consonni. Hayter moved up to third overall, tied on points with Oliveira, both 18 points back of the overall leader.
Before the Points race Van Vylder was fifth overall in the men's Omnium and needed a big haul of points in the final race. He said it was his advantage that Dorenbos would "not have eyes on everyone" and he could go unnoticed for much of the race.
"I knew I had to try to take laps and that is exactly what I did," the 29-year-old said.
Van Vylder saved his best performance for last, using the Points race to take the rainbow jersey. He earned 60 lap points to make the difference in that final contest. Grant Koontz (Unites States of America) earned the individual win, but Van Vylder held off all the others with 6 laps to go.
