Track Cycling Worlds in Shanghai: team pursuit day as Richardson scandal looms

The 2026 UCI Track Cycling World Championships continued on Thursday 15 October at the Shanghai velodrome, with men's team pursuit rounds among the highlighted events on day two of the five-day meet running 14-18 October. The championships, held in China for the first time, drew the sport's biggest names, including Dutch sprint king Harrie Lavreysen and Great Britain's Emma Finucane, with Olympic qualification points already in play for Los Angeles 2028. Thursday's programme was overshadowed off the track by the Great Britain squad crisis around Matthew Richardson, the Australian-born sprinter who had been withdrawn from the British team days earlier after British Cycling confirmed an internal investigation into allegations of discriminatory conduct made by a fellow rider. Richardson, who had set a world flying 200m record last year after switching nationalities, was sent home without racing. British officials stressed they take any allegations of harassment, bullying or discrimination extremely seriously. On the boards, Australia, Denmark and Italy were seen as team pursuit medal contenders, while home-crowd hopes centred on China's women's sprint quartet in later qualifying heats.