Your ARA Australian Cycling Team preview of the 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships

Rainbows are calling in Luoyang, China for the ARA Australian Cycling Team at the 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships, which begin tomorrow.

The team contains four returning athletes from the 2023 squad that competed in Cali, Colombia, including two defending junior world champions – Tayte Ryan and Nicole Duncan.

Ryan will race in China as the defending junior world champion in the 1000m time trial and will also hope to go one better in the sprint after winning a silver medal in 2023.

Tayte Ryan celebrates his 2023 junior men's 1000m time trial world championship. Picture: UCI/SWpix.com

Duncan also brought home a rainbow jersey and silver medal from Cali last year following a sensational scratch race win and a second placing in the Madison with Keira Will.

The returning second-year members are rounded out by Wil Holmes, who made his ARA Australian Cycling Team elite debut earlier this year at the Adelaide UCI Track Nations Cup, and Liliya Tatarinoff, who has been a dominant sprint force in this age-group for several years in Australia.

Oscar Gallagher, Alex Hewes, Toby Jones and Sam Washington join Holmes in the men’s endurance team.

Hewes was a standout performer from the 2024 AusCycling Track National Championships, winning the scratch race, points race and Madison junior national titles in his first year in the junior category.

Leani van der Berg and Lilyth Jones join Duncan in the women’s endurance squad.

Nicole Duncan won the 2023 junior women's scratch race world championship. Picture: UCI/SWpix.com

Read on to learn all about our upcoming junior track worlds campaign.

Key details

• Dates: Wednesday, August 21 to Sunday, August 25
• Where: Luoyang, China
• Australians: 10
• • Men sprint: Tayte Ryan
  • Women sprint: Liliya Tatarinoff
  • Men endurance: Alex Hewes, Toby Jones, Oscar Gallagher, Wil Holmes and Sam Washington
  • Women endurance: Nicole Duncan, Leani van der Berg and Lilyth Jones

Schedule 

For a comprehensive schedule, head here.

For our provisional finals schedule (dependent on qualification for some events), see below. Riders listed per event are subject to change.

• Women's scratch race: Wednesday, August 21 (Nicole Duncan)
• Men’s team pursuit: Thursday, August 22 (Alex Hewes, Toby Jones, Oscar Gallagher, Wil Holmes and Sam Washington)
• Men's scratch race: Thursday, August 22 (Oscar Gallagher)
• Men’s keirin: Thursday, August 22 (Tayte Ryan)
• Women’s elimination race: Thursday, August 22 (Leani van der Berg)
• Men’s points race: Friday, August 23 (Sam Washington)
• Men’s individual pursuit: Friday, August 23 (Wil Holmes and Toby Jones)
• Women’s sprint: Friday, August 23 (Liliya Tatarinoff)
• Women's omnium: Friday, August 23 (Nicole Duncan) 
• Women's 500m time trial: Saturday, August 24 (Liliya Tatarinoff)
• Women’s points race: Saturday, August 24 (Lilyth Jones)
• Women’s individual pursuit: Saturday, August 24 (Leani van der Berg and Lilyth Jones)
• Men's omnium: Saturday, August 24 (Alex Hewes)
• Men's sprint: Saturday, August 24 (Tayte Ryan)
• Men's elimination race: Sunday, August 25 (Oscar Gallagher)
• Women's Madison: Sunday, August 25 (Nicole Duncan and Leani van der Berg)
• Men's 1000m time trial: Sunday, August 25 (Tayte Ryan and Toby Jones)
• Women's keirin: Sunday, August 25 (Liliya Tatarinoff)
• Men's Madison: Sunday, August 25 (Alex Hewes and Sam Washington)

Wil Holmes made his ARA Australian Cycling Team elite debut earlier this year. Picture: Con Chronis.

What they said 

Tayte Ryan: "I’m super excited to start racing, the track is really fast, definitely the fastest I have riden on. It’s got really long bends and short straights with steep transitions.

"Coming into worlds this year I’m definitely in much better shape than last year. I'm hoping to defend my (1000m time trial) world title and go even faster than last year. I’ve been working a lot on my position since TrackNats, so I’m hoping that can translate to some fast times and maybe even a world record.

"The whole team is really excited to race and enjoying the hotel - it’s by far the nicest place I have ever stayed."

Nicole Duncan: "I really want to try and embrace the whole experience as it is my last year that I can race at a junior world championships.

"Each race that I go into I want to just give it my all and leave everything out there on the track.

"It's always an honour to be able to have the rainbow bands and I would love to be able to defend the scratch race title. I have been training really hard and I hope it's enough to win again.

"The form is feeling pretty good I'm looking forward to racing on the track again as I missed out on TrackNats due to a broken collarbone, but I have been training really hard since then."

Characteristics of Velodrome of New District of Luoyang City 

• Length: 250 metres  
• Width: 7.44 metres  
• Surface: Siberian cedar 
• Bends: Maximum 46 degrees  
• Straights: Maximum 13 degrees 
• Circumference at the fence: 293 metres

How to watch 

Live streaming information should become available on the event website before the first day of competition.

Results will also be available on the event website.

The local time zone is China Standard Time (CST), which is two hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), 90 minutes behind Australian Central Standard Time (ACST) and the same time as Australian Western Standard Time (AWST).

Feature picture: UCI/SWpix.com