World Athletics Championships: Britain’s Anna Morris surprises with gold in the individual pursuit, while American Chloé Dygert settles for silver and a world record
Four world titles were at stake on the fourth day of racing at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships at the Ballerup Super Arena outside Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday. On the penultimate day of competition, which will take place from October 16th to 20th, the gold medalists will be determined in the women’s 500m time trial, the women’s madison, the women’s individual pursuit and the men’s omnium.
Individual tracking of women
In a stunning gold medal final, Anna Morris (Great Britain) won the women’s individual pursuit world title, overtaking reigning world champion Chloé Dygert (United States of America) with two laps to go.
While Morris won the rainbow jersey in a time of 3:16.560, it was Dygert who set a new world record, setting the new best time of 3:15.663 in qualifying, eclipsing her 2020 record time.
Dygert held the lead for 3,250 meters of the race and then the small lead began to disappear. Morris set a better time with two laps to go and secured the win, preventing Dygert from winning 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 beat Franziska Brausse (Germany), who won silver last year and came away empty-handed.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Pos.
Driver name (country)
Result
1
Anna Morris (Great Britain)
3:16,560
2
Chloe Dygert (United States)
3:16,877
3
Bryony Botha (New Zealand)
3:21,086
4
Franziska Brausse (Germany)
3:24,620
5
Federica Venturelli (Italy)
Row 4 – Cell 2
6
Megan Barker (Great Britain)
Row 5 – Cell 2
7
Alberte Greve (Denmark)
Row 6 – Cell 2
8
Mieke Kroger (Germany)
Row 7 – Cell 2
9
Martina Alzini (Italy)
Row 8 – Cell 2
10
Emily Ehrlich (United States)
Row 9 – Cell 2
11
Ariane Bonhomme (Canada)
Row 10 – Cell 2
12
Isabella Maria Escalera (Spain)
Line 11 – Cell 2
13
Maho Kakita (Japan)
Line 12 – Cell 2
14
Martyna Szczesna (Poland)
Line 13 – Cell 2
Women Madison
Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth perform a hand sling on their way to the gold medal for Team Denmark (Image credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)
Home favorites Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth won the women’s madison world title for Denmark on Saturday. They jumped up from four places with less than 20 laps to go by picking up lap points and leaving France and Great Britain behind.
France’s Victoire Berteau and Marion Borras took silver, one point ahead of Britain’s Neah Evans and Katie Archibald, who took bronze.
Britain’s Archibald used the final pass to cross the finish line and secure 10 points, but he fell just one point shy of France’s total of 43 points. The home crowd responded with loud cheers as Denmark scored two final points at the finish to secure the gold, the total haul being 46.
A total of 17 two-driver teams competed in the 120-lap event. There were several missed exchanges at the start as the riders made their way to the first sprint points on offer, which Team France took.
France retained the lead with 40 laps to go and the championship lead remained close with the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain and Denmark. The Danish team went on the attack and won sprint points in the next two sprints.
With 15 laps to go, Denmark remained aggressive and lapped the field to move into first place, an 18-point lead over France. They were the fourth and final team to collect round points and that proved crucial.
Great Britain took advantage of the last sprint on offer and the frantic pace slowed somewhat with nine laps to go. Then Belgium attacked in the next two laps and Denmark marked the move to stay close to the lead along with France and the Netherlands.
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Pos.
Driver name (country)
team
Result
1
Denmark
46
Row 0 – Cell 3
Row 1 – Cell 0
Amalie Dideriksen
Row 1 – Cell 2
Row 1 – Cell 3
Row 2 – Cell 0
Julie Leth
Row 2 – Cell 2
Row 2 – Cell 3
2
France
43
Row 3 – Cell 3
Row 4 – Cell 0
Victoire Berteau
Row 4 – Cell 2
Row 4 – Cell 3
Row 5 – Cell 0
Marion Borras
Row 5 – Cell 2
Row 5 – Cell 3
3
Great Britain
42
Row 6 – Cell 3
Row 7 – Cell 0
Nah Evans
Row 7 – Cell 2
Row 7 – Cell 3
Row 8 – Cell 0
Katie Archibald
Row 8 – Cell 2
Row 8 – Cell 3
4
Netherlands
39
Row 9 – Cell 3
Row 10 – Cell 0
Marit Raijmakers
Row 10 – Cell 2
Row 10 – Cell 3
Row 11 – Cell 0
Lisa van Belle
Line 11 – Cell 2
Line 11 – Cell 3
5
Italy
29
Line 12 – Cell 3
Line 13 – Cell 0
Chiara Consonni
Line 13 – Cell 2
Line 13 – Cell 3
Line 14 – Cell 0
Vittoria Guazzini
Line 14 – Cell 2
Line 14 – Cell 3
6
United States
9
Line 15 – Cell 3
Line 16 – Cell 0
Jennifer Valente
Line 16 – Cell 2
Line 16 – Cell 3
Line 17 – Cell 0
Megan Jastrab
Line 17 – Cell 2
Line 17 – Cell 3
7
Ireland
4
Line 18 – Cell 3
Line 19 – Cell 0
Lara Gillespie
Line 19 – Cell 2
Line 19 – Cell 3
Row 20 – Cell 0
Mia Griffin
Line 20 – Cell 2
Line 20 – Cell 3
8
Belgium
3
Line 21 – Cell 3
Line 22 – Cell 0
Katrijn de Clercq
Line 22 – Cell 2
Line 22 – Cell 3
Line 23 – Cell 0
Helene Hesters
Line 23 – Cell 2
Line 23 – Cell 3
9
Australia
2
Line 24 – Cell 3
Line 25 – Cell 0
Alexandra Manly
Line 25 – Cell 2
Line 25 – Cell 3
Line 26 – Cell 0
Keira Will
Line 26 – Cell 2
Line 26 – Cell 3
10
Germany
1
Line 27 – Cell 3
Line 28 – Cell 0
Lea Lin Teutenberg
Line 28 – Cell 2
Line 28 – Cell 3
Line 29 – Cell 0
Lena Charlotte Reissner
Line 29 – Cell 2
Line 29 – Cell 3
11
Poland
0
Line 30 – Cell 3
Line 31 – Cell 0
Olga Vankiewicz
Line 31 – Cell 2
Line 31 – Cell 3
Line 32 – Cell 0
Patrycja Lorkowska
Line 32 – Cell 2
Line 32 – Cell 3
12
Switzerland
0
Line 33 – Cell 3
Line 34 – Cell 0
Michelle Andres
Line 34 – Cell 2
Line 34 – Cell 3
Line 35 – Cell 0
Aline Seitz
Line 35 – Cell 2
Line 35 – Cell 3
Women’s 500m time trial
Iana Burlakova (individual neutral athlete) blows a kiss to the crowd after winning the world title in the women’s 500m time trial (Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Iana Burlakova (Individual Neutrals) won the women’s 500m TT with a winning time of 0:00:32.863 on day four of the UCI Track World Championships. She was the only rider to reach the sub-33 mark in the 500m TT final.
Team Great Britain secured the next three places, with Sophie Capewell, fourth in the TT at last year’s World Track Championships, taking the silver medal with 33.010 and Katy Marchant, the reigning European champion at the distance, taking bronze with 33.119.
Emma Finucane (Great Britain) set the time to beat on the final lap with three riders to go and saw each of those riders beat her time of 33.178 to move one place away from the podium.
In qualifying, Burlakova set the fastest time of 33.002, 11 milliseconds faster than Capewell and 0.155 faster than Marchant. She was lightning fast on the first lap and maintained her speed until the finish, trading her white and black neutrals for a rainbow jersey.
The event was the last time this distance was contested at the UCI World Championships, as it will be expanded to 1000m next year to be the same distance as the elite men.
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