With the confirmation of 47 countries -and not 46 as previously announced- the details are already finalized for the start of the World Youth Track Championship, which will be held at the Alcides Nieto Patiño velodrome, in Cali, from Wednesday the 23rd to Sunday 27.
This will be the third consecutive extra-European World Cup, after those held in 2021 in Cairo (Egypt) and the one that took place in 2022 in Tel Aviv (Israel), although it will also be the one in 2024 in China, with a city still pending for decide.
The nations confirmed by the Organizing Committee until this Sunday are Germany, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Chile, China, China-Taipei, Colombia, Korea, Denmark, Ecuador, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran and Israel.
Likewise, there will be presence of riders from Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela.
However, the great novelty in the registration of a forty-eighth team is the presence of a ‘stateless’ team, made up of Russian cyclists, but without any mention of their nationality, about which nothing had previously been said.
Perhaps that was the cause of the delay of two and a half weeks in publishing the participation officially, which was done yesterday and not on August 2 as established in the UCI Regulations themselves.
In any case, it is a question of high due participation, as the UCI has reminded several times, in the obligation to take part in this event, and in next year’s World Cup on a date and venue -China- still to be communicated, in order to be present at the absolute World Cup in 2024, in Ballerup, Copenhagen.
For this reason, some delegations from dominant countries such as Denmark, Great Britain or the Netherlands present a testimonial participation, although other nations come with all their artillery.
Among the participants, seven cyclists already know what it is to achieve the ‘rainbow’, in the past World Cup. These are the cases of the Italians Luca Giaimi, Matteo Fiorin, Renato Favero and Federica Venturelli, the German Bente Lürmann, the French Clémence Chereau and the Slovenian Zak Erzen.
However, we will also have a large number of cyclists who have already been protagonists in this category, either in the Tel Aviv World Cup, or in the different Continental Championships held previously, highlighting the very powerful Italian team that exhibited in Anadia, with Davide Stella. , Juan David Sierra -of Colombian origin-, Beatrice Bertollini or Alice Toniolli.
Apart from those mentioned in the previous paragraph as current world champions, other names stand out such as the Belgian Hélène Hesters, already a participant in an absolute World Cup, the British Isabel Sharp, Ben Wiggins or Matthew Brennan, the Germans Pete-Collin Flemming, Bruno Kessler, Magdalena Fuchs or Seana Littbasrki Gray; and the French Etienne Oliviero and Marie Louise Drouode, the Turkish Ramazan Yilmaz.
The Ukrainians Karolina Keliukh or Daniil Yakovlev, the Korean Doye Kim, the New Zealander Marshall Erwood, the Canadian Nora Lilton, the Colombians Juliana Londoño, Stefany Cuadrado and Francisco Jaramillo, and the Spanish Héctor Álvarez, brilliant winner of the omnium in the European Championship.
Germany and Italy were the most outstanding teams a year ago: with the same number of golds -four- and silvers -three-, the Germans prevailed in the medal table thanks to their five bronzes, by none of the transalpines.
Source: Info Track Track