'It's insane': Tayte Ryan's world championship dream comes to life in Cali

Insanity. That’s how Tayte Ryan described winning his first world championship in the junior men’s 1000m Time Trial at the 2023 UCI Junior Track World Championships.

The 17-year-old from Adelaide lit up Cali, Colombia’s Velódromo Alcides Nieto Patiño in the kilo final, winning by 0.9 seconds in a time of 1:00.748.

The world championship caps off an incredible August for Ryan, who has completely blown his own expectations of his maiden UCI Junior Track Worlds campaign out of the water as a first-year under-19.

“I can’t even begin to wrap my head around tonight, a life dream come true. It’s insane.” Ryan said.

“Totally shocked that I was able to pull together two sub-1:01 rides in a day. I didn’t even think I was capable of times like that this year.

“It’s an amazing feeling knowing I’ve had such a successful world championships campaign, even more so that I’m a first-year.

“I came to worlds to soak up the experience and learn, and now I’m walking away with rainbows. Definitely a good week on the bike.”

Ryan’s junior kilo rainbow triumph comes a day after winning a sensational silver medal in the junior men’s sprint competition.

The teenage talent qualified fourth for that event and put down a flying 200-metre time that was nearly sub-10 seconds at 10.058.

Another blockbuster achievement narrowly eluded Ryan in kilo qualifying when he stopped the clock at 1:00.546, a fraction outside of the junior kilo world record of 1:00.498 set by ARA Australian Cycling Team’s Thomas Cornish in 2018.

“After the super hard sprint competition, I didn’t think my legs were even in the ballpark of finals today. So I was blown away with my qualifying time, and even more pleased to back it up so well in the final after a huge week of racing,” Ryan said.

Tayte Ryan is the 2023 junior men's 1000m Time Trial world champion.

“My times are huge PBs from my 1:02.537 at Track Nats.

“I’d definitely love to set my sights on Cornish’s record in the coming 12 months, that would be another big goal of mine.”

Ryan’s hefty luggage home to Australia now includes a rainbow jersey, a gold and silver medal from Junior Track Worlds, and three Commonwealth Youth Games gold medals from Trinbago 2023.

Australia’s penultimate medal in Cali arrived just minutes before Ryan’s success, courtesy of Nicole Duncan and Keira Will in the junior women’s Madison.

Duncan and Will finished with a silver medal behind a dominant Italian pairing.

The duo battled for silver with Czechia for the entire 80 laps and entered the final sprint one point out of the second spot.

A perfectly timed final change delivered Will onto the wheel of Czechia as the bell sounded for the final lap, and the 18-year-old from Sydney blasted around the Czechian to win the last sprint and leapfrog their rivals into the silver medal position.

The Day 5 success ends a terrific Junior Track Worlds campaign for the ARA Australian Cycling Team, who leave Colombia with two world championships, two silver medals and two bronze medals.

Feature picture: Campeonato Mundial Junior de Ciclismo de Pista Cali 2023