Track World Championships 2024: Emma Finucane wins gold again as record-breaking Josh Charlton beaten by Jonathan Milan
Updated 18/10/2024 at 22:16 GMT+1
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Emma Finucane further established herself as one of track cycling's rising stars, winning gold in the Women's Sprint at the Track World Championships. Fellow Brit Josh Charlton was equally impressive, breaking a world record which only lasted a few hours, before Jonathan Milan set a new benchmark and took gold with victory over Charlton on a memorable night in Denmark.
Milan breaks world record to take individual pursuit gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
Emma Finucane continued her excellent 2024 with a gold medal in the Women’s Sprint at the Track World Championships.
The 21-year-old, who had won the Team Sprint alongside Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant earlier in the week, beat Hetty van de Wouw to take gold in Denmark.
Finucane came through fairly comfortably against Japan’s Mina Sato in the semi-finals, but Capewell could not follow, going to a third race and falling short against the Netherlands’ Van de Wouw.
Capewell could not get the consolation of bronze, either, losing out to Sato, who powered over the line under pressure from her English opponent.
That meant it would be Finucane vs Van de Wouw for gold, with the Brit benefitting from fewer races in the semi-finals and a prolonged rest. She certainly looked fresher in the first heat of the finals, sprinting clear of Van de Wouw to take a 1-0 lead.
Van de Wouw looked to take it to a decider in the second race, probing and searching for a way past Finucane. But the Brit was too strong, finding the requisite pace and power to pull clear again and secure another impressive result.
The Welsh cyclist, already establishing herself as a dominant force in the sport, looked emotionally drained after her victory, hugging her family in the crowd before being draped with the Union Jack and receiving the adulation of the crowd.
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Finucane continues superb 2024 with sprint gold at World Championships
Video credit: TNT Sports
"Every world title is really special,” Finucane said. “Being defending Sprint champion is really hard - you have expectation and pressure but I'm really happy with how I handled myself and how I rode my bike today.
"It's a really tactical event, there are two riders on the track. I wanted to use my peak speed and I was happy with how I composed myself and used the track.
"Everything's a bonus for me - I'm always a world champion and no one can take that away from me."
Record-breaking Charlton and Milan battle for gold
It was a fascinating day in the Men’s Individual Pursuit, with Josh Charlton coming agonisingly close to a gold medal but losing out to Jonathan Milan in dramatic circumstances.
Charlton had already set the tone earlier in the day, having finished nearly a second ahead of Italian Milan in the Individual Pursuit qualifying.
Even more impressively, he set a new world record, beating Filippo Ganna’s previous benchmark with a remarkable time of 3:59.304.
Charlton’s time was 11 seconds better than his previous best, all the more astonishing given his struggles with illness earlier this year.
"It’s not bad, is it?" he told Cycling Weekly after qualifying. "I mean, it’s just total shock, really. It’s an IP, so you’ve got to give it full gas in the qualis. You don’t know what everyone else is going to do.
"In the last nine months, [I’ve been training] terribly. This last month, [I’ve had the] best legs of my life.
"I got pretty badly ill in March, April time, I gave myself chronic fatigue, and that was really tough to come back from. It’s been a really slow, methodical process ever since then.
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"This last month, it just feels like I’ve gone from strength to strength in my training, in my numbers, and it’s gone really well when it needed to."
Fellow Brits Dan Bigham and Charlie Tanfield were in third and fourth respectively, meaning there would be at least two medals for Great Britain.
And then it was time for the finals, with an expectant crowd hoping for more fireworks. An emotional Bigham, in his last ever international race, took bronze ahead of Tanfield, whetting the appetite for the final showdown between Charlton and Milan.
Milan appeared to have found another gear in the early stages of the gold medal race, setting an astounding pace and leaving Charlton with some catching up to do. The Brit, perhaps having expended much of his energy earlier on, struggled to keep up.
He did claw his way back into contention, but Milan was relentless, peddling with ferocious intensity until the finish line, where he became the second man of the day to set a new world record time: 3:59.153.Â
"It's really satisfying. It was a big goal for this season and we made it, so I am super happy,” Milan said.
"I was super impressed [by Charlton] - my tactic was to go full gas and I went out pretty good."
Milan took gold and a dejected Charlton had to settle for silver having seen his world record last just a few hours. But it was still a memorable night for the impressive 21-year-old.
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