Para-cycling Worlds sprint finals: Cox wins C4 title

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Great Britain’s Kadeena Cox narrowly beat Australia’s Tara Neyland at the finish line to win the women’s C4 sprint at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in the Netherlands. It was Cox’s first individual sprint world title and her second gold of these championships.

Cox had already won Friday’s C4 1 km event with a world record. Her sprint victory followed another record in qualifying and a comfortable passage through the semi-finals.

A timed record, then head-to-head racing

Cox set her qualifying world record of 11.409 seconds over a flying 200-meter effort, in which riders build speed before the timed section. The cycling body UCI sets out a different test for the medal races: riders compete head-to-head over 750 meters, rather than against the clock.

C4 is part of the C1–C5 division for riders with physical impairments. Lower-numbered classes represent greater activity limitations.

Britain wins both tandem sprints

James Ball and Aaron Pope won the men’s tandem sprint, adding to their 1 km time-trial victory. Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl comfortably won the women’s sprint to take their sixth world title.

In tandem B racing, a blind or visually impaired athlete rides behind a sighted pilot, and both pedal. Pope is Ball’s new pilot for these championships; Holl became Unwin’s pilot in March 2021. Unlike C-division riders, tandem sprint competitors begin directly with head-to-head races.

Lizzi Jordan and Anna Whitworth-Hay won women’s tandem sprint bronze by beating Germany in the third-place decider.