Your Australian guide to the 2022 UCI Track World Championships

15 Oct 2022 | 12:00 AMBy: Josh Davies

The 119th edition of the UCI Track World Championships rolls into action at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France, from October 12 to 16.

Australia has a squad of 15 riders hungry to take home medals and rainbow jerseys from France this week, with added motivation from 2021 when COVID restrictions impacted the full squad's participation.

Here's everything to know ahead of five days of racing on the boards, including when and where to watch in Australia.

Endurance

The men’s and women’s endurance side of the Australian team that will compete at Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, situated just outside Paris, combines six UCI WorldTour road professionals with four domestically based Australian Cycling Team members.

Tokyo 2020 Olympians Kelland O’Brien and Sam Welsford reunite together on the boards for the first time since winning team pursuit bronze at Izu Velodrome last year.

Welsford and O’Brien have both tasted rainbow glory at prior UCI Track World Championships, with Welsford a three-time team pursuit world champion as well as the 2019 scratch race world champion, while O’Brien is a two-time team pursuit world champion.

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A post shared by Kell O'Brien (@kellobrien)

Both Welsford and O’Brien raced at the opening round of the UCI Track Nations Cup in Glasgow, Scotland back in April.

The WorldTour neo-pro duo are joined by rising stars Josh Duffy, Conor Leahy, and James Moriarty, with all three having played pivotal roles for Australia at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The exciting Australian Cycling Team and Team BikeExchange-Jayco trident of Georgia Baker, Alexandra Manly and Ruby Roseman-Gannon are joined by soon-to-be WorldTour neo-pro Maeve Plouffe and Chloe Moran.

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Baker and Manly bring world championship-winning pedigree to the squad, while Roseman-Gannon will be making her elite Track World Championships debut.

Australian team: Endurance

Georgia Baker (Northern Districts Cycling Club, TAS)
Alexandra Manly (Central Districts CC, SA)
Chloe Moran (Central Districts CC, SA)
Maeve Plouffe (Port Adelaide CC, SA)
Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Brunswick CC, VIC)
Josh Duffy (Launceston City CC, TAS)
Conor Leahy (Peel District CC, WA)
Kelland O'Brien (St Kilda CC, VIC)
James Moriarty (Balmoral CC, QLD)
Sam Welsford (Northern Beaches CC, WA)

Sprint

Australia’s 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning men’s team sprint squad remains unchanged for the 2022 UCI Track World Championships.

Australian Cycling Team veteran Matthew Glaetzer is joined by Leigh Hoffman, Thomas Cornish and 2022 revelation Matthew Richardson.

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On the women’s sprint side, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kristina Clonan will look to continue her ascension up the ranks and build on her successful Birmingham 2022 individual results.

A successful Track Worlds for the sprint squad will presumably be judged on the team sprint performance of the men and the 500m time trial performance of Clonan, who has shown she is arguably the world's best in the format in 2022.

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Australian team: Sprint

Matthew Glaetzer (Central Districts CC, SA)
Matthew Richardson (Midland CC, WA)
Leigh Hoffman (Whyalla CC, SA)
Thomas Cornish (Southern Cross CC, NSW)
Kristina Clonan (Sunshine Coast CC, QLD)

#SQY2022 day-by-day

Day 1

Day session:
Women's team pursuit (qualifying)
Men's team pursuit (qualifying)

Evening session:
Men's team sprint (qualifying to finals)
Men's team pursuit (first round)
Women's scratch race

Day 2

Day session:
Men's keirin (first round, first round repechage, and quarterfinals)
Women's sprint (qualifying, 1/16 finals, and 1/8 finals)

Evening session:
Women's team pursuit (first round to finals)
Men's team pursuit (finals)
Women's sprint (quarterfinals)
Men's keirin (semifinals to finals)
Women's elimination race
Men's scratch race

Day 3

Day session:
Women's omnium (scratch race and tempo race)
Men's individual pursuit (qualifying)

Evening session:
Men's points race
Women's sprint (semifinals to finals)
Women's omnium (elimination race and points race)
Men's individual pursuit (finals)

Day 4

Day session:
Women's 500m time trial (qualifying)
Men's sprint (qualifying, 1/16 finals and 1/8 finals)
Men's omnium (scratch race and tempo race)
Women's individual pursuit (qualifying)

Evening session:
Women's 500m time trial (final)
Men's sprint (quarterfinals)
Women's Madison
Men's omnium (elimination race and points race)
Women's individual pursuit (finals)

Day 5

Day session:
Men's sprint (semifinals and finals)
Women's keirin (first round to finals)
Women's points race
Men's Madison
Men's elimination race

How to watch #SQY2022

SBS On Demand is the place to watch all the action from the 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.

All evening sessions plus Sunday's final day-time session will be live on SBS On Demand. All times listed in AEDT.