Leigh Hoffman has won sprint silver on the final day of the 2026 UCI Track World Championships in Shanghai, China.
In the highly anticipated gold medal final, the 26-year-old showed plenty of fight against the Netherlands' track cycling superstar Harrie Lavreysen.
However, dethroning the king is no easy feat, with the Dutchman's match sprint race nous earning him his eighth consecutive sprint world championship and 23rd rainbow jersey.
Despite coming so close to earning his first individual rainbow jersey, Hoffman said he was happy with the result.
"Going into the final. Obviously, wanted to win it. Didn't come away with it," Hoffman said.
"Lavreysen has won 23 world titles now, so he's got a ton of experience, where for myself, that's my first gold medal final at world champs.
"Still, to come away with silver was pretty amazing but it is bittersweet to be so close, within that grasp of another world title and have it slip away."
Hoffman's hopes of a dream sprint Sunday were high after he qualified first on Saturday in a time of 9.285 seconds, 0.141 faster than Lavreysen.
The South Australian was comfortable in his 1/8 final and quarterfinal matchups and then claimed a confidence-building scalp against Japan's Kaiya Ota in the semifinal.
"Started out well — P1 and qualifying with a bit of a gap to the field, about a tenth, which was great," Hoffman said.
"Just had a lot of confidence going through the rounds yesterday and today.
"Beating Kaiya Ota in straight sets, he's someone who had beat me at the Olympics and beat me at Copenhagen worlds as well, so it was good to finally get some runs on the board against him."
ARA Australian Cycling Team teammate Danny Barber recorded a career-high finish of eighth after bowing out in the quarterfinals.
Feature picture: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com