On 15 October, the second day of the Track World Championships in Shanghai, Italy won two silver medals, both in the team pursuit. Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Alessio Magagnotti and Jonathan Milan finished behind Denmark, while Chiara Consonni, Elisa Balsamo, Martina Fidanza and Vittoria Guazzini finished behind Great Britain.
No gold, then, but a day that showed two genuine teams. The men finished 4.731sec behind the Danes, the women 5.357sec behind the British. In the other events, the rest of the Italian squad went out early.
Italy’s day: two silvers and three exits
The Italian tally is quickly read: two medals, both silver, and three events finished without a podium. The best work came from the two team pursuit squads, who reached the finals for gold and found stronger teams waiting there.
Ganna and Milan stopped by Denmark
The men’s squad had arrived in Shanghai with a clear idea: to put Italy back in the fight for the title. Ganna and Milan were considered two absolute certainties of the team, with Lamon, Paris 2024 Olympic champion, and nineteen-year-old Magagnotti completing the line-up.
The plan held for a kilometre. Then Denmark began to pull away: half a second after two laps, about two seconds just past the halfway mark. The gap kept growing to the line, and the Italians never found a way back.
It remains a silver that carries weight. A year ago, in Santiago de Chile, the Italian men were sixth; in 2024 in Paris they took Olympic bronze with Ganna, Lamon and Milan, and in 2023 in Glasgow world silver with the same backbone. With Magagnotti the squad has found a young, credible fourth man.
The Italian women start fast and are reeled in
The reigning world champions had opened the day in the best possible way. In the morning round Balsamo, Alzini, Fidanza and Guazzini had beaten Germany, with the best time of all the squads. Venturelli, part of the gold in Santiago, was missing through injury.
For the final the team changed: Consonni came in for Alzini. Italy made the start, leading Great Britain by almost a second after the first kilometre. Around halfway the British took control and in the second half they pulled away.
Bronze went to Germany, who beat the Netherlands. For Italy it is a third consecutive world medal in the event: bronze in 2024, gold in 2025, silver today.
Barbieri, Predomo, Stella and Vece go no further
Rachele Barbieri finished fourteenth in the women’s elimination race. In 2022 she had finished second in this event, behind Lotte Kopecky: this time the race, stopped twice, was a long process of losing riders along the way.
Mattia Predomo went out of the keirin. Sixth in his heat in the first round, sixth again in the repechage, he had no room for the quarter-finals.
Davide Stella finished twenty-second in the scratch race, won by Matthew Bostock. Miriam Vece was twenty-seventh in the women’s sprint qualifying, 0.792sec behind China’s Yuan Liying, then finished second behind the Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw in the first knockout round.
The day’s finals: Denmark, Great Britain and Lavreysen
The day awarded five titles, and two went to Great Britain, one to the Netherlands, one to Belgium and one to Denmark.
Denmark win a fourth title in a row
Bévort, Leth, Madsen and Pedersen stopped the clock at 3:40.865, just 0.888sec off the world record the same Danes set in February at the European Championships in Konya. After the opening phases the race was one long, steady surge.
Pedersen said the time is even better when you consider the track: it is not the fastest, but the team rode a perfect race. A fourth consecutive title, after the missed medal at Paris 2024.
Great Britain took bronze by beating France, despite trailing over the two middle kilometres.
Boothman’s debut makes the British title
In the women’s pursuit Great Britain won in 4:04.610, less than two seconds off the world record they set in February. Erin Boothman, 19 and a four-time junior world champion, rode the final in place of Megan Barker, who had raced in the previous round.
For Boothman and for Millie Couzens it was a debut at the elite World Championships. Boothman said she was delighted just to ride with those team-mates. Anna Morris explained the plan for the final: to come home like a train.
Josie Knight, now a three-time world champion, recalled last year’s third place, which had left her wanting more.
Lavreysen, Bostock and Kopecky
Harrie Lavreysen won the keirin, his second gold of Shanghai after the team sprint. He had only finished second in the quarter-finals, but in the final he moved up on the outside at the bell and nobody could come back at him: Dörnbach took silver, Nakano bronze.
In the scratch race Matthew Bostock won alone, dropping the bunch and finishing with more than half a lap in hand. He said it was a childhood dream and that he was not even supposed to be there, called up the evening before. It is Great Britain’s first gold of these Championships. Tom Sexton won the sprint for silver ahead of Lindsay De Vylder.
Lotte Kopecky won the elimination race, her third title in the event after those of 2022 and 2023. In the finale Yumi Kajihara had crashed with five riders on the track; the race was neutralised and then restarted, but at the sound of the bell the Belgian attacked and the Japanese rider waved the white flag. Kopecky said the elimination is one of her favourite events; a year ago she had missed the Worlds with a back fracture.
The medal table after two days
The Netherlands lead with three golds. Behind them Great Britain have two golds, a silver and a bronze. Italy, with no golds and two silvers, are sixth, behind Belgium, China and Denmark, who have one gold each.
The tally says the Italian squad is in the hunt, but now wins are needed. The events where Italy has the best chances are those on 16 October.
The finals on 16 October, in Italian time
Friday 16 October’s programme starts early for those following from Italy. At 06.00 the qualifying for the men’s kilo time trial opens, with Fabio Del Medico and Matteo Bianchi entered; the final is at 12.37. At 07.00 the men’s individual pursuit begins, with Milan and Etienne Grimod entered; the finals are at 13.15.
In the men’s points race the final is at 11.05, with Niccolò Galli entered. The women’s omnium, with Elisa Balsamo, starts at 06.38 with the scratch race, continues at 08.47 with the tempo race and at 12.07 with the elimination, and ends at 13.40 with the points race.
The women’s sprint will have the semi-finals from 11.57 and the final from 13.30.
The day’s podiums
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s team pursuit | Denmark (Carl-Frederik Bévort, Lasse Leth, Frederik Madsen, Rasmus Pedersen) | Italy (Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Alessio Magagnotti, Jonathan Milan) | Great Britain (Noah Hobbs, Henry Hobbs, Ethan Vernon, Oliver Wood) |
| Women’s elimination race | Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) | Yumi Kajihara (Japan) | Megan Jastrab (United States) |
| Men’s keirin | Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) | Maximilian Dörnbach (Germany) | Shinji Nakano (Japan) |
| Men’s scratch race | Matthew Bostock (Great Britain) | Tom Sexton (New Zealand) | Lindsay De Vylder (Belgium) |
| Women’s team pursuit | Great Britain (Erin Boothman, Anna Morris, Millie Couzens, Josie Knight) | Italy (Chiara Consonni, Elisa Balsamo, Martina Fidanza, Vittoria Guazzini) | Germany (Messane Bräutigam, Franziska Brausse, Lisa Klein, Mieke Kröger) |
The medal table
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Great Britain | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| China | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Italy | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ireland | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Portugal | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| United States | 0 | 0 | 1 |
News story written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: Tissot Timing, UCI official timekeeper, “Track World Championships 2026”.
- Cyclingnews, “Track World Championships: Great Britain reclaim women’s team pursuit title, Bostock wins Scratch Race”.
- Cycling Weekly, “’It was phenomenal’ – Great Britain earn two gold medals on second day of Track World Championships”.