Harrie Lavreysen reigns supreme in sprints, Britain top medals table at cycling world championships

GLASGOW – Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen maintained his stranglehold on track cycling’s sprint discipline as he made it five world titles in succession in the individual event on Monday.

Lavreysen, 26, was in a league of his own again, easily beating Trinidad & Tobago’s Nicholas Paul in the final. He is also the first sprinter to win five world championships in a row since the start of the professional era in 1992.

“I felt really strong this tournament and it’s taken a lot of energy and a lot of days of consecutive racing,” said Lavreysen, who hit a top speed of 74.5kmh during the second heat of the final against Nicholas. “I hope I can keep this advantage going, I love to sprint.”

Having powered the Dutch to team sprint gold last Friday, with the keirin to come on Tuesday, he could leave Glasgow equalling Frenchman Arnaud Tournant’s record 14 world titles.

Lavreysen, who came to the track after starting out in BMX, now has five titles in individual competition, five in team sprint and three in keirin, another Olympic discipline.

While Britain’s team is sending out a powerful statement of intent ahead of Paris 2024, for sheer domination of a sport, Lavreysen is reaching the kind of levels that Tiger Woods or Roger Federer used to enjoy.

In the last six editions of the track world championships, he has won 13 of the 17 gold medals on offer. He was denied a sweep of three golds at the Tokyo Olympics when a rare miscalculation in the keirin saw him finish third in a race won by British great Jason Kenny.

Yet in a sport where duels are often decided by less than a wheel length, Lavreysen’s ability to avoid even the tiniest of mistakes is remarkable.

He says being the man everyone wants to beat drives him on. “I know I cannot make any mistakes, so that also brings a lot of pressure... I’m always trying to raise the benchmark.”

Britain’s Kieran Reilly earlier won the BMX Freestyle Park title. The European champion had a spectacular run to finish ahead of Olympic champion Logan Martin of Australia in the final.

Martin, the last man to go after the competition resumed following a rain delay, came up half-a-point short of Reilly’s winning score of 95.80.

“It’s the next level,” said a jubilant Reilly. “This is the biggest competition in the world outside the Olympics and this is the perfect stepping stone for me. I won the Euros a couple of months ago and to have those two jerseys at the same time shows the hard work is paying off.”

Having laid down a solid first run, Reilly landed everything he attempted in the second.

“That was pure and utter relief,” said Reilly. “It’s not as often as you’d like that you come off a course knowing you’ve done everything. To be one of the few guys still doing the double flair in competition, it’s such a high-risk trick and it’s taking that risk at the end of the run.”

American Nick Bruce finished third, just ahead of former champion Rimu Nakamura of Japan.

Host nation Britain also enjoyed another impressive day at the Chris Hoy Velodrome to top the medals’ table.

Elinor Barker, who returned to the track in 2023 after having a baby, claimed her second medal of the championships as she joined Neah Evans to win a chaotic Madison race. Australia were runners-up, with France third.

“My legs are still screaming,” Barker said after adding the madison to the team pursuit gold she won last week. “We’d lined it up for the last sprint and I was empty.”

Earlier, Ethan Vernon picked himself up off the boards after a crash to win the elimination race, meaning Britain’s Olympic squad top the medals’ table with four golds, two silvers and a bronze with two days of track action remaining. AFP, REUTERS