The 2026 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships will be held in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, from 29 October to 1 November, bringing together the world’s best para cyclists to compete for one of the many rainbow jerseys on offer.
The history behind the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships
The World Championships for para cycling date back to 1994 when the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) organised the competition. Back then, Hasselt in Belgium hosted the joint track and road competitions.
The 2006 World Championships in the UCI’s home of Aigle, Switzerland, were jointly organised by the UCI and the IPC. The first solely UCI-organised UCI World Championships for para cycling track took place a year later in Bordeaux, France. This brought para cycling into cycling’s international governing structure and supported consistent rules and classification.
Since then, the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships have visited velodromes across Europe and beyond, including Manchester, United Kingdom; Aguascalientes, Mexico; Los Angeles, USA; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Milton, Canada.
The scale of the event and intensity of competition has grown year-on-year. Back in 2011 in Montichiari, Italy, 22 rainbow jerseys were up for grabs. In Apeldoorn, like there has been for the past four editions, 48 UCI world titles will be fought over.
A major milestone played out in 2023, when para cycling track events featured at the first UCI Cycling World Championships, held in Glasgow and across Scotland, United Kingdom, alongside the rainbow jersey battles for most cycling disciplines.
The sport divisions
Athletes from two sport divisions – Tandem (B) and Cycle (C) – compete at the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships.
The B division is for blind and visually impaired athletes competing on a tandem bicycle with a sighted rider, known as the pilot, riding at the front. The athlete with the visual impairment sits behind the sighted pilot, and both riders pedal.
The C division (C1-C5) is for athletes with physical impairments including limb deficiencies or amputations, reduced muscle strength, and neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy. Bicycles can be adapted to meet individual needs, using modifications such as specialised cranks or prosthetic attachments. Athletes in sport class C1 have higher activity limitation, while athletes in C5 have the lowest activity limitation.
The competition programme
The competition programme at the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships features a mix of individual and team events, combining explosive speed, endurance and tactical racing.
1 km time trial (C and B): Riders start individually from a stationary position and race over 1,000 metres. The rider with the fastest recorded time wins.
Individual pursuit (B): Two tandems start on opposite sides of the track and race over 4km. The aim is to catch the opponent or record the quickest time.
Individual sprint (C and B): Riders in the C division first complete an individual flying 200m qualifying effort, followed by head-to-head races of 750m (three laps of 250m) pitting two or three riders against each other at a time. The B division riders start directly with the head-to-head races. Tactics, acceleration and top speed are crucial.
Scratch race (C): Riders start together and race over a set distance, commonly 10km for C-division events. The first rider across the finish line wins.
Elimination race (C): Riders compete in a bunch. After a neutralised lap (250m), every two laps (500m), there’s an elimination sprint whereby the last rider across the line is eliminated. The final two riders contest the final sprint.
Mixed C team sprint: Nations enter teams comprising three C1-C5 riders, including at least one woman. The event begins with a qualifying round where teams race individually against the clock. Each rider leads for a lap, before peeling off and letting the next rider take over. The four fastest teams qualify. The top two race for gold and silver; the other two race for bronze and fourth place.
Mixed tandem team sprint: this is a four-lap race where teams feature one male and one female tandem. One tandem leads the first two laps, before the second tandem finishes the final two laps. The event starts with a qualifying round against the clock. The quickest four teams advance to the medal matches with the two fastest teams fighting for gold and silver, while the third and fourth fastest race for the bronze medal.
Some of the history-makers
Many para cyclists made such a mark on the international racing scene that even after their retirement, their names live on.
They include, for example, Jiří Ježek. The Czech C4 legend retired after the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with six Paralympic gold medals and six UCI world titles to his name, and is one of the great para cycling track riders of his generation
Great Britain’s Dame Sarah Storey, who retired earlier this year, dominated C5 pursuit and time trial racing for years, collecting numerous track UCI world titles and Paralympic golds along the way. Meanwhile, Australian Susan Powell was a C4 pursuit specialist, winning back-to-back UCI world titles in 2014 and 2015 and setting a world-record benchmark. She also won gold in the speciality at the London 2012 Paralympics and silver four years later in Rio, Brazil.
In the B category, recently-retired Neil Fachie (GBR) won a total of 19 UCI world titles across an international career spanning more than 25 years. Meanwhile, in the Women’s B division, New Zealand’s Emma Foy won a total of 13 UCI World Championship medals across road and track between 2015 and 2019. Foy came out of retirement to win double gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom).
Many of the athletes competing in Apeldoorn this week are also multiple UCI World Champions and Paralympic Champions. We will highlight a few of them in an event preview to be published on Wednesday 28 October.