2025 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships: Germans win final four titles in Göppingen

Germany takes both cycle-ball victories

The cycle-ball finals on the third and final day of the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Göppingen, Germany, saw the home team Wolf and Holzer reign supreme in the women’s tournament, and a successful farewell for fellow Germans Mlady and Kopp in the men’s competition.

In artistic cycling, Jana Pfann won the Single Women while Bärk and Kirst retire from competition with a Pair Women victory.

Women’s cycle-ball: Germany overcomes Swiss pair

Germany’s cycle-ball team Judith Wolf and Danielle Holzer (Hofen/Prechtal) were unbeaten in the 2025 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships, conceding only three goals in four games.

They faced Switzerland (Sava Baumann and Chiara Dotoli) in the final, winning 6-1 to take a third successive victory for Germany.

Third place went to Japan (Sayaka Tokuhiro / Nana Yamashita).

German National Coach Jörg Latzel confirmed that Germany would be back to defend its title in the discipline that is relatively new at this level for women.

Men Elite League cycle-ball: Mlady and Kopp sign out with victory

Germany's Bernd Mlady and Raphael Kopp (RMC Stein/GER) were crowned UCI World Champions in a repeat of last year’s final against their rivals Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein (AUT).

Austria’s 2022 UCI World Champions drew first blood in the Göppingen cauldron. “We didn't let that upset us,” said Mlady, who lives in Stuttgart, just a few kilometres from the competition venue. The score was 1-1 at half-time, before the defending UCI World Champions from Germany turned up the heat and pulled away to win 6-2.

“You can't imagine a better career farewell,” said Kopp. After the next round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup in Schöftland, Switzerland, next weekend and the UCI World Cup Final in Hofen, Germany, three weeks later, Mlady/Kopp will hang up their bikes.

The bronze medal went to the brothers Timon and Yannick Fröhlich from Altdorf (Switzerland) ahead of France (Quentin and Mathias Seyfried).

Pair Women: Bärk and Kirst end career together in style

Antonia Bärk and Henny Kirst (Bonn-Duisdorf/GER) ended their career together in the best possible way. Having announced that they were competing in their last season together, the reigning UCI World Champions were unbeatable in Göppingen.

“I was able to enjoy the final. The conditions here were just perfect,” said an overjoyed 28-year-old Kirst. His partner Bärk (27), with whom he has been competing since 2015, shed tears of joy, confessing: “At first I didn't have the feeling that I was competing in a UCI World Championships. But then I suddenly realised that this is the final… and now we're UCI World Champions again.”

With a world best score of 146.36 points, they said goodbye to the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in style. The pair will make a last appearance at the UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup Final in Öschelbronn, Germany, in a week's time, wearing the prestigious rainbow jerseys.

The silver medalists are Kim Leah Schlüter and Nele Jodeleit (Knetterheide/GER) ahead of Switzerland’s Simona Lucca and Larissa Tanner (Stäfa/Dürnten). Another Swiss pair, Julia Stäheli/Tanisha Tanner (Amriswil), finished fourth.

Single Women: Pfann breaks the curse to win

Jana Pfann (Bruckmühl/GER) came to the UCI World Championships in Göppingen in top shape. With the highest difficulty level of all the competitors, the 2022 UCI World Champion was the last to go into the final. In the preliminary round, she had not delivered perfectly, but still won. And she went on to break the long-standing curse of the preliminary round winners, who had not succeeded in the final since 2019.

Pfann had relied on safety but also took some risk – and it paid off: “I had said to myself, ‘either it works out, or it doesn't.’ That wouldn't have been tragic either.” With 190.92 points, the 21-year-old won her second rainbow jersey of UCI World Champion.

Despite expectations, the silver medal did not go to Germany, with Veronika Koch (Hausham), who was seeded in second place, losing a contact lens during the freestyle, and finishing in sixth place. Silver went to Switzerland's Alessa Hotz (Baar) with 182.58 points. The two-time bronze medallist (2021 and 2022) thus marked the greatest success for her country in this discipline since 1988, when Switzerland last won gold.

Austria's Lorena Schneider (Höchst), competing in her last UCI World Championships, secured the bronze medal for the fourth time. Italy’s Magdalena Müller scored 158,64 points for fourth place.