UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: Track cycling preview, full race schedule, how to watch live velodrome action

The UCI Cycling World Championships 2023 in Glasgow sees all the main disciplines of the sport come together at this level for the first time.

Track cycling is one of the highlights, with elite races taking place from 3-9 August inside the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, named after the six-time Olympic gold medallist from Scotland.

The atmosphere is sure to be electric with hosts Great Britain among the powerhouse nations in track cycling.

These World Championships - now held every four years as opposed to annually - offer the highest UCI Track Olympic Ranking points of any event, so strong performances can go a long way towards securing berths at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

A total of 22 world titles, and those coveted rainbow jerseys, are on offer - 11 for men, 11 for women - including in the Paris 2024 Olympic disciplines of individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit, madison, and omnium.

Find out all you need to know about the event below.

• How to qualify for track cycling at Paris 2024

Riders to watch at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: men's track sprint events

Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen is the undisputed king of sprinting, with the Olympic champion bidding for a fifth consecutive individual world title.

After winning the sprint and keirin at February's European Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland, it is hard to see his reign ending any time soon.

Together with reigning 1km time trial world champion Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, the Dutch will try to win back the team sprint title they lost to Australia last year.

Led by Matthew Richardson - who took individual silver in 2022 - and Matthew Glaetzer, the last man to win the individual sprint world title before Lavreysen, the Aussies present the biggest threat to the Dutch dominance of the track.

Also hoping to make it onto the podium is Malaysia's two-time Olympic keirin medallist Azizulasni Awang.

The 'Pocket Rocketman' may be a veteran at 35, but he is up to third in the keirin world rankings and keen to regain the world crown he won back in 2017.

There is also a strong challenge from the Americas with Trinidad and Tobago's Nicholas Paul, who missed last year's Worlds through injury, fit and raring to go for Glasgow.

Paul warmed up in good style at June's Pan American Championships, winning the keirin before beating Colombia's 2022 keirin world bronze medallist Kevin Quintero in the sprint final.

And in April, he beat Richardson in the sprint semi-finals of the last round of the UCI Track Nations Cup before taking victory in Milton, Canada.

Home hopes rest with Tokyo 2020 Team GB sprint bronze medallist Jack Carlin who was born just down the road in Paisley.

The 26-year-old has six medals at global level, but is still seeking a first gold.

Riders to watch at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: women's track sprint events

Germany's Lea Friedrich looks the woman to beat as she bids to regain her sprint world title from Mathilde Gros.

The Frenchwoman delighted the home fans in St-Quentin-en-Yvelines last October as she stunned Friedrich 2-0 in the final, and she has happy memories of the Chris Hoy Velodrome having won the European keirin title there in 2018.

But Friedrich took sprint gold at February's European Championships in Grenchen, beating Pauline Grabosch in the final after her countrywoman had accounted for Gros in the semis.

Emma Hinze completes a formidable German team and they will be looking to sweep the women's sprint races just as they did at the last two European Championships and the 2021 World Championships.

If Gros cannot stop the Germans, maybe the People's Republic of China can in the team sprint.

The Chinese came into last year's Worlds as something of an unknown quantity following COVID-19 restrictions which limited their training and competitions, but Guo Yufang took 500m time trial bronze and helped them to team sprint silver behind Germany.

China won the team sprint at the Track Nations Cup stop in Cairo in March with Bao Shanju, a gold medallist at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, when teams had two riders rather than three, in the line-up as she was in France last October.

Canada are also a threat with Olympic sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell returning to form at April Track Cycling Nations Cup.

She and housemate Lauriane Genest, who won keirin bronze at Tokyo 2020, will be among the medal contenders with Genest winning the Pan American sprint title in June.

Mexico also have a strong team, as do Colombia led by Martha Bayona - sprint runner-up to Mitchell in Milton - who beat Genest to the Pan American keirin title.

Riders to watch at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: men's track endurance events

Home hopes rest largely with Ethan Hayter who is bidding to complete a hat-trick of omnium world titles for Great Britain in Glasgow.

His 2023 road campaign, in which he won the points jersey at the Tour of Romandie, came to an abrupt end as he sustained a broken collarbone at the Criterium de Dauphine in June.

Last year, Hayter won world titles in the omnium and team sprint and silver in the madison with Oliver Wood. He will also hit the road again for the time trial in which a mechanical issue cost him a medal last year, and the road race having finished fourth and ninth respectively in Wollongong, Australia.

Hayter's INEOS Grenadiers teammate Filippo Ganna is another man bidding for glory in both the velodrome and on the tarmac.

The Italian defends his crown in the individual pursuit - a title he has won no fewer than five times - and will hope to go one better than last October's team pursuit silver, before chasing a third individual time trial world title.

The evergreen Elia Viviani, omnium Olympic champion at Rio 2016 and bronze medallist in Tokyo, defends his elimination race title.

France's Benjamin Thomas is another multiple medal threat after his omnium silver last year and madison gold with Donovan Grondin who won the omnium in Milton.

Portugal's Ivo Oliveira is a two-time world individual pursuit medallist, and won the madison in Milton with Iuri Leitao.

Germany's Tim Torn Teutenberg and Dylan Bibic of Canada are other riders enjoying good seasons and set to challenge in some wide-open endurance track events.

Riders to watch at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: women's track endurance events

Katie Archibald leads the home team after her three golds at February's European Championships.

Despite the absence of five-time Olympic gold medallist Laura Kenny, who gave birth to her second child on 20th July, the British look strong having beaten world champions Italy in the team pursuit final in Grenchen.

Archibald also won the omnium and teamed up with Elinor Barker for madison gold.

Jennifer Valente is the reigning world and Olympic omnium champion, but the American was only third in the omnium in Milton where Archibald took an emphatic win after winning the scratch, tempo and elimination race legs.

Also in the U.S. team is Chloe Dygert who last raced in the track World Championships in 2020 where she won gold in the individual and team pursuit (alongside Valente).

Dygert, 26, has three individual and four team world titles to her name.

Belgium's madison world champions from last year, Lotte Kopecky and Shari Bossuyt, will not defend their title after Bossuyt tested positive for a banned substance in March.

Kopecky will not find a new partner but told Cycling News she will defend her elimination race title and contest the points race and omnium on the track, before going for gold in the women's road race after her silver last year.

The Belgians' absence from the madison would seemingly leave the way open for Archibald and Barker, and France's 2022 silver medallists Clara Copponi and Valentine Fortin with Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth also likely contenders.

Track Cycling at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023 venue: Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome

The Chris Hoy Velodrome, built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was opened in the Dalmarnock district of Glasgow in October 2012 and is situated very near the home of former European football champions Celtic.

It has staged four rounds of the UCI Track Nations Cup (formerly the Track Cycling World Cup), and the 2018 European Track Cycling Championships as part of the multi-sport European Championships.

The track is constructed to the international-standard dimensions of 250m in length and 8m width on Siberian timber with the arena holding up to 4,000 spectators.

Track Cycling schedule at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: Schedule of events

All times below are British Summer Time (UTC / GMT +1 hours) and subject to change. Elite races only. Medal races in bold.

Thursday 3 August

Morning session 

• 09:30 - Men Team Pursuit Qualifying
• 11:09 - Women Team Sprint Qualifying
• 11:53 - Men Team Sprint Qualifying
• 12:49 - Women Individual Pursuit Qualifying

Evening session

• 19:03 Women Team Sprint Round 1
• 19:50 Women Individual Pursuit Finals
• 20:19 Women Team Sprint Finals
• 20:27 Men's 15km Scratch Race

Friday 4 August

Morning session

• 09:30 Women Team Pursuit Qualifying
• 11:18 Women 500m Time Trial Qualifying

Evening session

• 18:45 Men Team Pursuit Round 1
• 19:26 Women 500m Time Trial Final
• 19:48 Men Team Sprint Round 1
• 20:01 Women 10km Scratch Race
• 20:33 Men Team Sprint Finals

Saturday 5 August

Morning session

• 11:14 Men Sprint Qualifying
• 12:19 Women Team Pursuit Round 1
• 12:47 Men Sprint 1/16 Finals
• 14:28 Men Sprint 1/8 Finals

Evening session

• 18:21 Women Keirin Round 1
• 19:07 Men Team Pursuit Finals
• 19:43 Women Keirin Round 1 Repechage
• 20:28 Women Team Pursuit Finals

Sunday 6 August

Morning session

• 10:24 Men Individual Pursuit Qualifying
• 11:58 Women Keirin Quarter-Finals
• 13:09 Men Sprint Quarter-Finals
• 14:41 Men Omnium - Scratch Race

Evening session

• 18:13 Women Keirin Semi-Finals
• 18:22 Men Omnium - Tempo Race
• 18:34 Women Elimination Race
• 19:01 Men Individual Pursuit Finals
• 19:16 Men Omnium - Elimination Race
• 19:57 Women Keirin Finals
• 20:12 Men Omnium - Points Race

Monday 7 August

Morning session

• 11:30 Women Sprint Qualifying
• 12:18 Men Sprint Semi-Finals
• 12:26 Women Sprint 1/16 Finals

Evening session

• 18:28 Men Elimination Race
• 18:55 Men Sprint Finals
• 19:34 Women Madison

Tuesday 8 August

Morning session

• 12:30 Women Sprint 1/8 Finals
• 13:48 Women Sprint Quarter-Finals
• 14:04 Men 1km Time Trial Qualifying

Evening session

• 17:25 Men 1km Time Trial Final
• 18:04 Men Keirin Round 1
• 18:42 Women Points Race
• 19:19 Men Keirin Round 1 Repechage
• 19:44 Men Madison

Wednesday 9 August

Evening session

• 17:30 Women Sprint Semi-Finals
• 17:38 Women Omnium - Scratch Race
• 18:01 Men Keirin Quarter-Finals
• 18:19 Women Omnium - Tempo Race
• 18:33 Women Sprint Finals
• 18:41 Men Keirin Semi-Finals
• 18:58 Women Omnium - Elimination Race
• 19:15 Men Points Race
• 20:11 Men Keirin Final
• 20:21 Women Omnium - Points Race

How to watch track cycling at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships

In the United Kingdom, the BBC has full broadcast rights and will carry extensive live and delayed coverage both on its linear channel and streamed on BBC iPlayer.

FloBikes will stream live coverage in the United States and Canada, while Eurosport will broadcast the event throughout most of Europe.

In Australia, the action will be streamed live and free on SBS On Demand.

Please check local listings for coverage in your area.