On the second day of the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Göppingen, Germany, an Asian team won silver medals in artistic cycling for the first time, in the Pairs Open. Another historic first was achieved as an athlete from Hungary took his place on the Single Men podium.
Pairs Open: Hong Kong brothers make history
Lea-Victoria Styber and Nico Rödiger (Langenselbold/GER) are the new UCI World Champions in the Pairs Open. In the final, the German mixed duo repeated their flawless performance from the preliminary round. The defending UCI World Champions were the last starters, and with 159.10 points, they surpassed the results of all the earlier finalists.
“Maybe one of the most beautiful days in life,” said Rödiger. “We were the hunted, and we got it.”
Following three silver medals (2021-2023), the pair have now won the gold for the second successive year.
The surprise result came from two-time UCI World Championships bronze medallists Tsz Hin Jeff Lim and Tsz Leung Ron Lim from Hong Kong. The brothers had a fall but celebrated their 123.27 points together with the 4,000 spectators as if it were victory. The brothers have written UCI World Championship history, earning Asia’s first silver medal for artistic cyclists.
Last year's silver medallists, Niklas Kreuzmann and Celine Stapf (Soden/GER), were on course to retain that position for a long time. However, mistakes towards the end of their freestyle routine proved decisive, and with 118.39 points, they finished in third place.
Fourth place went to Chun Wai Hui and Chun Yin Hui from Hong Kong (107.12 points)
Single Men: first Hungarian medal
Two-time Single Men silver medallist Philipp-Thies Rapp (Tailfingen/GER) lined up one maximum difficulty move after another to finally take the UCI world title in Göppingen. Despite a few mistakes, his score of 202.7 points, saw the 22-year-old finish 10 points clear of his nearest rival.
Silver went to 19-year-old Linus Weber (Kirchdorf/GER), who scored 192.32 points competing in his first final. He impressed the crowds with audacious tricks that saw him get bonus points, mkaing up for a fall in the early phase of his presentation.
Hungary’s Czaba Varga, who had the most UCI World Championships participations of the finalists, was the only rider to remain completely flawless. With 168.78 points, he became a national hero as the first Hungarian to bring home a UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships medal, the bronze.
Hong Kong’s Yat Nam Chan scored 163.90 points to finish fourth.
4️⃣ out of 6️⃣ medals for Germany 🇩🇪 at #Göppingen2025 🥇🥇
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) November 8, 2025
The Germans dominated the Pair Open and Single Men Artistic Cycling events, taking gold and silver in both. Congrats to the new UCI World Champions! 🌈
📸 Tom Weller pic.twitter.com/Ywr32rMM1j
Pairs Women: preliminary round completed
The 2024 UCI World Champions in the Pair Women, Antonia Bärk and Henny Kirst (Bonn-Duisdorf/GER), gave a flawless performance to move into Sunday’s final four as winners of the qualification round (143.04 points). They will be joined by last year’s bronze medallists Simona Lucca and Larissa Tanner (Dürnten/SUI), 2024 silver medallists Kim Leah Schlüter and Nele Jodeleit (Knetterheide/GER) and UCI World Championships newcomers Julia Stäheli and Tanisha Tanner (Amriswil/SUI).
Men’s cycle-ball Elite League
The reigning UCI World Champions Bernd Mlady and Raphael Kopp (Stein/GER) and brothers Timon and Yannick Fröhlich (Altdorf/SUI) took the direct path to the final of the cycle-ball Elite League, with both teams undefeated in their respective preliminary round groups.
The second and third-placed teams in each group had to make their way through the playoffs, with spots in the final going to Austrians Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein and French brothers Quentin and Mathias Seyfried.
The first game in the final saw Austria beat France 6-0, while the defending UCI World Champions from Germany defeated the Swiss Fröhlich brothers 4-1 in a high-class match. Matches continue Sunday to decide the 2025 UCI World Champions.
Women's cycle-ball
In the women's cycle-ball competition, Germany won the preliminary round. Unbeaten so far, the reigning UCI World Champions Danielle Holzer/ Judith Wolf secured direct entry into the final. The second place in the final on Sunday will be decided in a play-off between Switzerland (Sava Baumann / Chiara Dotoli) and Japan (Sayaka Tokuhiro / Nana Yamashita).