Both the men’s and women’s team sprint squads stormed to silver medals, kicking off the Great Britain Cycling Team’s campaign on the first day of the 2025 UCI Track World Championships.

Women’s team sprint

Defending world champion Emma Finucane was joined by debutants Iona Moir and Rhianna Parris-Smith in the women’s team sprint. The trio got off to a seamless start, qualifying fastest in a time of 45.808 seconds, 0.139 seconds ahead of closest rivals the Netherlands.

They flew through round one, beating Colombia with ease to take on the Dutch trio of Kimberley Kalee, Hetty van de Wouw and Steffie van der Peet for the title. With both teams going slightly slowly than qualifying in the first round, it was all to play for.

Parris-Smith shot out of the gate, showing her strength and power to bring her teammates up to speed, just 0.049 behind the Dutch. Moir pushed hard and rushed the gap with finesse before Finucane gave it everything to take them to the line. After a fantastic run of races, the title wasn’t to be and the British trio took home a well-earned silver medal, just 0.667 seconds off gold.

Rhianna Parris-Smith, Iona Moir and Emma Finucane at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships

Emma Finucane commented:

“I’m so proud of these two [Parris-Smith and Moir], it’s their first world championships and to go out there in the gold medal ride off, be composed, feel the pressure. I’ve been there before and it’s really hard so to be lining up next to these two, I’m really proud and we couldn’t have asked for more.”

Rhianna Parris-Smith added:

“We’re feeling good, we haven’t had many rides out so I think we should be proud of what we’ve done today. Obviously, it’s a little disappointing not getting the gold but I think if we look back at it and realise what we’ve done, we’ll be pretty proud.”

Men’s team sprint

The men’s team sprint qualifying line up of Joe Truman, Matt Richardson and Harry Ledingham-Horn delivered a strong opening ride, placing second behind defending champions the Netherlands with a time of 42.131.

Flying through round one with a win against Germany, GB would face their long-time rivals the Dutch line up of Roy van den Berg, Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen in the gold medal ride off.

Joe Truman, Matt Richardson, Hamish Turnbull and Harry Ledingham-Horn win silver in the men's team sprint at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships

Having quickened over their first two rides and still with time left on the board, a team change was made bringing Hamish Turnbull in for Ledingham-Horn’s P3. Truman got the trio off to a flying start, leading by an initial third of a second. Richardson held the pace for lap two until Laverysen managed to deliver an incredible third lap, just pipping Turnbull over the line by just over half a second, for the Great Britain to take their second silver of the evening.

On the result and his first medal riding for Great Britain, Matt Richardson said: “We wanted to come out and have a really good, controlled first ride. We’re a fresh line up, so each time we step on the track we're learning a little bit about each other, so we didn’t want to do anything too crazy and blow each other’s legs off."

“We thought there was time left on the board that we didn’t think we’d find riding the same line up, so we thought we’d try something else [in the final], and put Hamish in. Unfortunately it didn’t work but we had nothing to lose and we learnt a whole bunch from that because Hamish has never ridden behind me before so it’s all good learnings for the future."

“Coming away with a silver medal is bittersweet but for me, my first medal at a world championships in GB skin suit is going to feel amazing. I wish it was the top step, but I can’t come away too mad about that.”

Joe Truman added:

“I’m really happy, it’s the closest we’ve ever been to the Dutch and it’s a really positive first step in the cycle [to LA]. We were up on them all the way to the last half lap so I think it’s a very good start and it’s exciting for what we can crack on with going forward.”

Women’s scratch race

Making her world championships debut, Maddie Leech delivered a patient and well executed scratch race, that took it to the wire with a final bunch sprint.

Over a cagey 40 laps, riders kept their cards close to their chest with no one confident to make that first move. With the bunch conserving energy and staying tight, the race lit up with eight laps to go when Lithuanian Olivia Baleisyte shot off the front to take her chance. Getting nearly half a lap on the bunch, Beleisyte ran out of steam and was swept up with four laps to go.

Maddie Leech in the women's scratch race at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships

Meanwhile, Leech had been keeping under the radar at the back, acutely observing the race around her. Avoiding raising any suspicion, she was in a strong position when she launched her sprint behind Marion Borras (FRA) at two laps to go, pushing hard to get over the top of the front group, before powering over the line to finish a commendable sixth place.

Team pursuit qualfiers

Great Britain went into the women's team pursuit qualifying as defending champions, with the quartet of Meg Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jess Roberts delivering a smooth ride. Their time of 4:09.865 saw them qualify second fastest into tomorrow’s first round, where they will face Germany.

In the men‘s event, Matt Bostock, Josh Charlton, Charlie Tanfield and Will Tidball qualified third behind Denmark and Australia in a time of 3:49.001. Facing Australia in the first round, Michael Gill was subbed in for Matt Bostock, with the quartet delivering a good first km, just over 0.16 seconds behind AUS. By the halfway point, the gap had opened slightly to 0.7 seconds, but with no signs of the Australians slowing down, it continued to widen.

As Tidball pulled off leaving the remaining three riders still pushing hard, the gap created by the Olympic champions just became unsurmountable and Great Britian were knocked out of the medal running with their time of 3:51.617.

Charlie Tanfield, Matt Bostock, Josh Charlton, Will Tidball in the men's team pursuit at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships

Tomorrow will see the women’s team pursuit final, as well as the elimination race which will be contested by Katie Archibald, while Mark Stewart takes on the men’s scratch.

In the sprint events, defending champion Emma Finucane will take on the women’s sprint, alongside Lauren Bell and Iona Moir, while Matt Richardson and Harry Ledingham-Horn compete in the men’s keirin.

You can follow the action live across the BBC red button, iPlayer and BBC Sport Website and app between 18:15-20:35 and 21:20-01:00 and find all the results on the GBCyclingTeam instagram.

Photo credit SWPix.