Prodigies Devon Briggs and Xiaomei Wang make history in Class C3; Alexandre Léauté sets his second record at the Rio World Championships in Class C2, and Tristan Bangma breaks his own world record in the men’s Tandem
On Saturday, lightning struck twice in the same place as the same world record was broken twice in the same event in two different races. In the Flying Start (Omnium) of the women’s C3 class, Canadian Mel Pemble surpassed her own mark, set in 2022. But Chinese rider Xiaomei Wang flew even faster, becoming the new record holder and concluding the day dominating the category: she is now the reigning world champion in all events of the women’s C3 class. In the men’s C3 class, 20-year-old New Zealander Devon Briggs broke the world record in the individual pursuit during the qualifying round. There was considerable pressure in the finals for someone so young, but Briggs returned to the track, broke his own newly established record, and won his first world title.
In the elimination round, the New Zealander completed the one-kilometer course in 1:05:357, breaking the previous mark of 1:05.525 set by Briton Jaco Van Gass in 2022. In the final, he crossed the finish line in 1:05.259, breaking his own record and clinching his first gold in World Championships – he won two silvers in 2022 and three bronzes in 2023. He had also broken the Flying Start (Omnium) record on Thursday, covering the 200 meters in 10.919 seconds, surpassing the feat of American Jason Kimball (11.141” in 2018).
“In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t imagine anything like this. I came to this competition wanting to put all my best efforts on the track and I exceeded my own expectations in every possible way. Breaking the Flying Start record was incredible. Bringing that to the individual pursuit and breaking it again this morning, and then breaking my own record in the final… that’s something I never imagined I would do when I was a 10-year-old boy starting to ride,” he said emotionally.
The New Zealander is still vying for two golds in Rio: in the Scratch and Omnium, a race he now leads after his magical day on the Rio track. He is also looking forward to his first Paralympic Games: he missed Tokyo by just 13 days from reaching the minimum age. With the maturity of a veteran, however, he details how he plans to prepare for these upcoming challenges.
“The feat in the heats gave me confidence that I could do a fast time trial, but it also put some pressure to sustain it. I knew deep down that I had already done it before and that I could do it again. In the end, I managed to give my best in the race and here we are. You have to take one day at a time, one race at a time. We’ll come here in the morning and have the team sprint heats – whether we qualify for the final or not, we’ll see -, then Scratch and elimination at the end of the day. As for the Paralympic Games, it would be a dream come true if I could participate and win medals there. We have to wait for the qualification, see if we get the spot, and see how it goes,” he said.
Among the women of C3, Canadian Mel Pemble completed the 200 meters of the Flying Start (Omnium) in 12.651 seconds, surpassing her own world record of 12.666 seconds, set in 2022. But Chinese rider Xiaomei Wang crossed the finish line in 12.506 seconds. It was just the beginning of a day that would crown the new champion of everything in the category.
At 23, Wang arrived in Rio without any gold medals in major international competitions. She had three silvers (including World Championships and Paralympic Games) and two bronzes until she climbed to the top of the podium in the time trial on Wednesday. From there, she never looked back. She became the new world champion in the individual pursuit on Friday, set a world record on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, won gold in the Scratch as well.
That’s how, dominating the World Championships, Wang also won the Omnium, a race that rewards the most versatile and enduring cyclists by distributing points according to their performance in four different events: time trial, individual pursuit, scratch, and flying 200 m. The first-place finisher in each event earns 40 points, the second 38, and so on. Wang scored 160 out of 160 points. Aniek Van Der Aarssen took silver with 146 points and Pemble bronze with 138 points.
“I am very excited about these results and loving the organization and competition I found here. Yesterday I won the individual pursuit, today the Scratch and the Omnium, it’s the first time I’ve managed to be a world champion and I am very happy for that. But, from now on, all of this is reset, and my head is already on my big goals for Paris. I hope to get that spot and win all the golds there,” she said.
Two other world records were broken on Saturday by those who already held them. In the men’s Tandem individual pursuit, Tristan Bagma and pilot Patrick Bos completed the 4 km course in 3:58.397, surpassing their own mark of 3:58.766, set at last year’s World Championships. In the men’s C2 time trial, Alexandre Léauté, 23, completed the course in 1:08.358 and beat his time of 1:08.365, achieved in 2022. He had already won the gold in the individual pursuit on Wednesday.
In total, thirteen events were settled on Saturday. Great Britain, which has been making doubles with different teams in both men’s and women’s Tandem, remains in the lead with 19 medals (9 golds, 9 silvers, and 1 bronze). China, with Wang, regained second place with 13 (9 golds, 3 silvers, and 1 bronze). France, which celebrated the double in the men’s C4 Omnium, is in third place with 11 (6 golds, 4 silvers, and 1 bronze). Brazil is in eighth place with two silvers.
Events of Day 4 (03/23):
Women’s C3 – Flying Start 200 m (Omnium)
Top 3: Xiaomei Wang (CHN)*, Mel Pemble (CAN), and Aniek Van Der Aarssen (NED)
Brazilian: Amanda Antunes de Paiva (7th)
*New world record: 12.506 seconds
Men’s Tandem – Individual Pursuit (4 km)
Medalists: Netherlands (Tristan Bangma/Patrick Bos)*, Great Britain (Stephen Bate/Christopher Latham), and Italy (Lorenzo Bernarde/David Plebani)
Brazilians: Bruno Bonfim dos Anjos/José Eriberto Medeiros Rodrigues Filho (15th) and Luciano da Rosa/Daniel Henrique Gruer de Brito (17th)
*New world record: 3:58.397
Women’s Tandem – Individual Pursuit (3 km)
Medalists: Great Britain (Elizabeth Jordan/Dannielle Khan), Great Britain (Sophie Unwin/Jenny Holl), and Poland (Otylia Marczuk/Ewa Bańkowska)
Brazilian: Bianca Canovas Garcia (11th)
Men’s C5 – Time Trial (1 km)
Medalists: Blaine Hunt (GBR), Alfonso Cabello Llamas (ESP), and Niels Verschaeren (BEL)
Brazilians: Ricardo Alafim de Freitas (11th), Lauro Chaman (12th), Pablo Henrick Santos Voigt (21st), and Johnatan Mineiro Santos (23rd)
Men’s C4 – Time Trial (1 km)
Medalists: Jody Cundy (GBR), Korey Boddington (AUS), and Michael Shippley (AUS)
Brazilians: Elielson Rodrigues (18th), Gabriel Ribeiro da Silva (24th), André Luiz Grizante (25th), and Nícolas Nogueira Rodrigues (31st)
Women’s C4 – Scratch (10 km)
Medalists: Xiaomei Li (CHN), Emily Petricola (AUS), and Franziska Matile-Dörig (SUI)
Men’s C3 – Time Trial (1 km)
Medalists: Devon Briggs (NZL)*, Jaco Van Gass (GBR), and Finlay Graham (GBR)
*New world record: 1:05:259
Women’s C3 – Scratch (10 km)
Medalists: Xiaomei Wang (CHN), Daniela Paula Caballeros Perez (COL), and Aniek Van der Aarssen (NED)
Men’s C2 – Time Trial (1 km)
Medalists: Alexandre Leaute (FRA)*, Gordon Allan (AUS), and Shota Kawamoto (JPN)
Brazilians: Victor Luise de Oliveira Herlind (13th) and Edson Fernando Jorge (16th)
*New world record: 1:08.358
Men’s C1 – Time Trial (1 km)
Medalists: Zhangyu Li (CHN), Weicong Liang (CHN), and Mohamad Yusof Hafiz Shaharuddin (MAS)
Brazilian: Carlos Alberto Gomes Soares (8th)
Women’s C3 – Omnium
Medalists: Xiaomei Wang (CHN), Aniek Van Der Aarssen (NED), and Mel Pemble (CAN)
Brazilian: Amanda Antunes de Paiva (7th)
Women’s C4 – Omnium
Medalists: Emily Petricola (AUS), Xiaohui Li (CHN), and Anna Grace Taylor (NZL)
Men’s C4 – Omnium
Medalists: Gatien Le Rousseau (FRA), Kevin Le Cunff (FRA), and Bryan Larsen (USA)
Brazilians: André Luiz Grizante (20th) and Elielson Rodrigues (24th)
The 2024 Para Cycling Track World Championships is organized by the Brazilian Cycling Confederation (CBC) and TBA Sports Management under the supervision of the International Cycling Union (UCI), sponsored by the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), Shimano, and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Sports. Additionally, it is supported by Santini, the Municipal Government of Rio de Janeiro, and the Cycling Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FECIERJ).