GB women target Worlds team pursuit three-peat

World championships in track cycling in 2025

Location: Santiago, Chile, Velodromo Penalolen, 22-26 October

At the Track Cycling World Championships in Chile, Great Britain are aiming to win their third straight world title in the women’s team pursuit.

The British team won the Glasgow gold medal in 2023 before successfully defending their title in Denmark in 2024. From October 22 through October 26 in Santiago, the 2025 event will take place.

Maddie Leech will make her World Championship debut after narrowly missing out on the women’s omnium European title earlier this year, while Josie Knight, Jess Roberts, Katie Archibald, Anna Morris, and Megan Barker make their return to aim for gold once more.

Since its inception in 2008, Britain has been the dominant force in the women’s team pursuit, winning eight gold medals, six silvers, and two bronzes without ever capturing a single medal.

Knight says she understands the strain placed on the British team given their ongoing success.

“They established the status of one of the world’s best teams,” they said.

You might be asking yourself, “How did we end up being these people?”

We want to keep up the standard that you set for us thanks to Laura Kenny, Elinor Barker, and Joanna Rowsell.

In addition to claiming seven world titles, Kenny won five gold medals at the Olympics and seven gold at the same time. Rowsell has won five Olympic medals and five world championships.

Whether or not we are the best, Knight remarked. So we just need to take comfort from that and realize that other countries are all looking at us, just like we do them.

We have hope because we can do it a tenth of the time, so we can do it.

It would be really nice to win it three times in a row because it would be something special, despite the fact that I don’t want to jinx anything.

Roberts, who was a member of the 2024 team, predicts a tough Santiago challenge.

Roberts, one of three Welsh riders in the sextet along with Morris and Barker, said, “Everyone is so strong, I guess we’re thinking about other teams as well.”

You’ve got to bring your A-game, really, because the strength in women’s cycling is now extremely high.

The four riding in the team may look different once more with the addition of 22-year-old Leech, but the team are looking forward to it.

With the program we have here at British Cycling, the podium potential, the younger riders, and the coaches, “you know whenever a younger one comes up, they know what they’re doing, they’ve done it,” Knight said.

You can instantly have that trust in them because it was done at a slower speed, so it’s never a trust thing.

It’s just learning how to ride; challenges come with them, but it’s a part of the experience and the team’s beauty.

All women’s endurance team members will compete in individual events in addition to the team pursuit.

Knight will compete for the title in the individual pursuit, but Morris, a fellow GB team member, will be in stark opposition. He has already broken two world records in the event this year.

A reigning world champion in a particular sport has worn the rainbow jersey since 1927, continuing the tradition.

Roberts and Knight haven’t ridden with the rainbow stripes this year because they both took a break from the cycling after the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In front of a home crowd in Glasgow, I won the team pursuit, which occurred a year before the Olympic games, Knight said.

Every time you put those on, it was something special because that was quite a lot of racing.

“I believe that’s what makes cycling so special,” he said.

You won’t see me on the track without them because neither of us has really raced this year, so we’re making the most of it in training.

Roberts shares the sentiment, “I haven’t raced in them, so I’d love to, we’d love to win it again and hopefully actually race in it next year.”

In training, I’m just trying to wear the rainbow jersey, like Josie.

As the team prepares for the Santiago track, there is no end in sight of their goals.

Roberts remarked, “We all want to go and win, that’s what we’re going there for.”

“We’re looking to put three strong rides together that we’re proud of.