GB win double track gold as women's pursuit team dominate Italy
Great Britain won two gold medals on day two of the World Track Cycling Championships in Shanghai on Thursday 15 October, taking the women's team pursuit and the men's scratch race. BBC Sport
Erin Boothman, Anna Morris, Josie Knight and Millie Couzens beat Italy by more than five seconds in the women's team pursuit final. Italy started the race as world champions. The team pursuit — four riders racing together against the clock and the opposition — rewards smooth changes and steady nerve, and Britain had both.
Matthew Bostock, 29, won the men's scratch race for his first world title. The scratch is simple. All the riders start together and the first across the line wins. Bostock held his line in a frantic finish to take it.
There was more British success in the men's team pursuit. Henry Hobbs, Noah Hobbs, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood beat France in the bronze-medal ride-off. Bostock also earns a bronze medal for riding in the earlier rounds. Denmark beat Italy in the gold-medal race to claim a fourth consecutive title.
Sophie Capewell kept a strong week going in the women's sprint. The 28-year-old beat China's Jiang Yulu twice in a best-of-three quarter-final to reach the semi-finals. She had already won silver in the women's team sprint alongside Rhianna Parris-Smith and Emma Finucane on day one. Finucane, the sprint world champion in 2023 and 2024, also moved into the last four.
Away from the racing, Matt Richardson withdrew from Britain's squad. British Cycling confirmed his removal in a statement without giving a reason, amid reports the 27-year-old is under investigation for misconduct. Richardson had been expected to challenge for medals in the individual sprint and keirin — a sprint raced behind a pace bike — and said he would co-operate with a British Cycling investigation.
The 2026 Tissot UCI Track World Championships run from 14 to 18 October, with Thursday's programme built around the team pursuits and endurance bunch races. UCI
Britain had a quieter opening day in the bunch races, with Abigail Miller finishing 17th of 24 riders in the women's scratch race.
What makes this stand out is the margin in the women's pursuit. Five seconds at world level is a beating, not a tight win. Add Bostock's breakthrough gold and two sprinters into the semi-finals, and Britain leave day two with momentum for the rest of the week.
