BBC to show GB stars Finucane and Capewell at 2026 Track World Championships in Shanghai
Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell will represent Great Britain at the 2026 Track World Championships at the Shanghai Velodrome between 14 and 18 October.
Riders will compete for the coveted rainbow jerseys across a range of disciplines split between endurance and sprint, with Great Britain returning after finishing second in 2025; the Netherlands topped the table with nine gold medals. Harrie Lavreysen was the standout performer for the Dutch team in 2025, winning four gold medals in the Keirin, Sprint, 1km Time Trial and the Team Sprint.
Great Britain will be without one of their most decorated track cyclists, as reigning Madison world champion Katie Archibald hung up her cleats in May this year to pursue a career in nursing. Olympic team sprint champion Katy Marchant also announced her retirement last month. The British squad includes eight riders who have won world titles and eight Olympic medallists, and Olympic team sprint champions Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell will be hoping to regain their world title.
Welsh rider Finucane arrives in Shanghai after a brilliant summer which saw her win a record four golds at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Glasgow gold medallist Lowri Thomas and World and Commonwealth medallist Rhianna Parris-Smith complete the women's sprint team. Exciting young endurance prospects Millie Couzens, Erin Boothman and Abi Miller will all make their elite World Championships debuts.
Former world champions Meg Barker and Josie Knight were selected alongside reigning individual pursuit champion Anna Morris. They form part of the experienced contingent named in Britain's team for Shanghai.
On the men's side, Commonwealth Games silver and bronze medallist Harry Ledingham-Horn will be hoping to improve on last year's World Championships team sprint silver medal. Matt Richardson, who beat the mighty Lavreysen to win the European sprint title earlier this year, returns from injury. The men's sprint group is completed by the experienced Joe Truman and Ed Lowe, who won Olympic silver in the team sprint at Paris 2024.
GB endurance veterans Ethan Vernon, Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood, who have 15 Olympic and world medals between them, are included in the squad alongside brothers Noah and Henry Hobbs, with Matt Bostock completing the men's endurance selection. Coverage will be live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with scheduled broadcasts including Women's scratch race and team sprint final; Men's team pursuit final, keirin finals and scratch race; Women's elimination race and team pursuit final; Men's points race, time trial and individual pursuit final; Women's time trial, madison and individual pursuit final; Men's sprint final, elimination race and madison; and Women's points race and keirin final.
There are 22 titles at stake, and the championships are the first track cycling qualifying event for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.