About the Track Cycling World Championships

The first track cycling world championships were held in Chicago, USA in 1893, organized by the International Cycling Association (ICA). Since then, the world championships have been held every year, only interrupted by the years during the two world wars. On April 14, 1900, the ICA was changed to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and this organization has since been the main international organization for almost all forms of cycling (road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, BMX, cyclo-cross, E-sports cycling, paracycling, etc.) [1].

The first track cycling world championships only featured amateur competitions, but as early as 1895, competitions for professionals were also introduced at the cycling track world championships. After that, for a long period of years until 1993, there were separate competitions for amateurs and professionals in all disciplines but only for men. From 1993 onwards, this changed, as all disciplines became open to both professionals and amateurs.

At the World Championships in Paris in 1958, there were competitions for women on the program for the first time in the form of two track cycling disciplines, individual sprint and individual pursuit. Both disciplines were won by cyclists from the Soviet Union. The number of disciplines for women has since increased over the years to 11 in 2021 at the Track Cycling World Championships in Roubaix, France. Since 2021, there have been exactly the same disciplines for women and men.

The first World Championships on track in 1893 offered competitions in only three disciplines (sprint, motor-pace and 10 km), and from here the championships have developed over the years into an event with 22 disciplines at, for example, the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2024. Here, the program included, among several other events, all the Olympic disciplines [2].