UCI Track World Championships 2023: Race schedule, contenders and how to watch

UCI Track World Championships 2023
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Dates: 3 August - 9 August

This year's Track World Championships are part of the Glasgow super World Championships, with track cycling alongside 12 other disciplines, from road to BMX.

First held in Chicago, USA in 1893, the Track World Championships award rainbow jerseys across a range of disciplines. Currently, these include: team pursuit, individual pursuit, keirin, time trial, points race, scratch race, elimination race, sprint, team sprint, omnium and Madison. 

This year’s event is scheduled to take place at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, to the east of the city centre in Glasgow, which also hosted the track events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

The 2023 UCI Track World Championships kick off the UCI Cycling World Championships on Thursday 3 August, with doors opening at the velodrome on at 09:30. Racing then continues every day alongside the Para-Cycling events until Wednesday 9 August, across morning and evening sessions.

Below is the seven-day programme, with the medal finals scheduled to take place on each day. 

List of medal finals (BST)

Thursday 3rd August - from 17:00
Women's individual pursuit
Women's team sprint
Men's scratch race

Thursday 4th August - from 16:45
Women's 500m time trial
Women's 10km scratch race
Men's team sprint

Friday 5th August - from 16:45
Men's team pursuit
Women's team pursuit

Saturday 6th August - from 16:15
Women’s elimination race
Men's individual pursuit
Women's Keirin
Men's omnium final - points race

Sunday 7 August - from 16:30
Men's elimination race
Men's sprint
Women's Madison 

Monday 8 August - from 16:30
Men's 1km time trial
Women's point race
Men's Madison

Tuesday 9 August
Women's sprint
Men's point race
Men's Keirin
Women's omnium final - points race

Who are the contenders? 

Katie Archibald is the stand out name of the GB track squad, the 20-time European champion, four-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion coming into the Worlds off the back of yet more success at the European Championships earlier this year.

She joins the likes of Elinor Barker, Neah Evans and Josie Knight in the GB endurance squad, and they will be battling last year's world champions Italy in the team pursuit, who will bring Elisa Balsamo and Chiara Consonni. 

Archibald's main rivals for individual events include defending omnium world champion Jennifer Valente of the USA and Lotte Kopecky of Belgium. Kopecky will be heading to the track fresh from winning the green jersey and coming second overall at the Tour de France Femmes.

In the GB women's sprint squad, the stand out name is Emma Finucane, who won all four sprint titles at the British National Track Championships earlier in 2023. She will face stiff competition from Mathilde Gros of France, sprint world champion, and Lea Sophie Friedrich of Germany, seven-time world champion across the last three years. The latter will be joined by Emma Hinze and Pauline Grabosch in the team sprint, a formidable trio.

The GB men's endurance squad will sadly be without Ethan Hayter, who has failed to recover from a broken collarbone in time. However, the GB team pursuit squad will still be strong, with Ollie Wood, Ethan Vernon and Dan Bigham all present. Wood will also be a favourite in the scratch and Madison events.

Whether they can hold off Italy in the team pursuit with Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan in Glasgow, the boards will reveal. Aaron Gate could do well in any endurance event, and could Benjamin Thomas, the European omnium champion and defending Madison world champion too.

When it comes to sprinting, 25-year-old Harrie Lavreysen is the best in the world. The Dutchman is an 11-time world champion, nine-time European champion and the owner of two Olympic gold medals. In any race Lavreysen starts, you wouldn’t want to bet against his fierce kick. Together with reigning 1km time trial world champion Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, the Dutch will try to win back the team sprint title they lost to Australia last year.

Australia, with Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer, are the best hope to pip the Netherlands in the sprint races on the track.

How to watch?

All evening sessions will be broadcast live in the UK on BBC Two, BBC Three or the BBC Sport website and app.

The events will also be shown live on Eurosport and GCN+.