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Anna Whitten and Geoff Stoker The 2026 UCI Masters Track World Championships
23 Oct 2026
Anna Whitten - World Masters Track Championships London
2026 has not been the perfect training preparation for me, having crashed during the NSW
State Championships, resulting in a broken shoulder blade, therefore limiting my training for
quite a few months.
In addition, being in the last year of the five-year age band, which included 6 World
Champions was always going to be challenging. Nevertheless, my focus was always to be
the best I could be.
Having spent the first week in England in Derby, where we trained on the velodrome -it was
pretty nice as the boards had just been re-sanded so it was smooth and clean -a bit different
to Dunc Grey velodrome, which could do with that.
My first race in London-the Time Trial was on Day 3 of the competition. I find it’s always
good to do your first race; it seems to calm some of the nerves (although there are still plenty
left). So, the TT is 500m-two laps of the track from a standing start held in the start gate;
There is no margin for error; it’s all go from the start to the end! I didn’t ride the time I was
hoping to and finished 5th, but as I mentioned, my field was ultra-competitive, and the winner
broke the world record!
The next day was the Team Sprint -our team -me, Jessica Laws, and Julie Barnett were
competing in the 45–54-year age group as you need to compete in the age group of the
youngest rider -Jess. It’s hard to get 3 women in the same age group from a country with a
relatively small number of competitors. There were 6 teams in the age group, so the
qualifying ride was in the morning session. I had the position of rider 1-so out of the start
gate, the quickest lap I could, and then out of the way. Our team qualified in second place,
which got us into the Gold medal ride in the afternoon. We were second to the British team
by only 0.300 of a second, and with some expert coaching tips from Geoff for rider 2 -Jess
we should have a chance at the gold medal.
The Gold medal ride -I was out of the gate and out of the way after the first lap and looking
down, I could see Jess was closer to my wheel this time than in the qualifying ride, giving us a
better chance. Once I was out of the way, I was trying to look at the scoreboard, not so easy
as it all happens so quickly. We were still in first position after lap 2, and yes, we had won by
0.300! It felt good to beat the British team who have been unbeaten over the last few years,
and we learned afterwards that it was a world record time -even better!
Last day of competition was Sprint Day for me. Qualifying ride first thing in the morning; it
was a bit cooler. With 6 riders in the competition, the draw went straight to semifinals and
qualifying in 5 th position meant I didn’t have any sprint races unfortunately. Looking back at
my qualifying ride, I made an error in the line coming in which would have cost me, but
anyway, no second chances!
The World Championships are always a great week -not only for racing but to renew
friendships from riders around the world and form friendships with new competitors.
Now I’m looking forward to next year when I'll be in the first year of the age group and, all
going well, break some records!
Link for Team Sprint Heat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02qqW9xc1Z0
You’ll find it at 2 hours 53 minutes
Link for Team Sprint final - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12bFf7VHiD8
You’ll find it at 2 hours 58 minutes
Geoff Stoker - World Championships Track – London
Right from the start, I knew this year would be different. Getting older is interesting, and for me one more thing happens. The group you compete against changes every five years. So this year for me change of group and change of competition. I guess having raced as many years as I have, there aren’t many people I haven’t raced. Where it gets interesting is when the top three riders in the World are all Australian, so we get to race against each other at National Championships and Worlds.
I spent the last week prior to Worlds training in Derby, UK. It’s a smaller city with a really nice crew running the velodrome there, and we got to train with a few of the UK-based masters also getting ready for competition.
Into London, and what a difference it makes when you add that many millions more people into a city. Really lucky we had a nice place to stay, and it was only two kilometres away from the velodrome we were racing on.
I was fairly relaxed about the track we were racing on in London; it was designed by Mr Ron Webb, who also designed the tracks in Sydney and Manchester, which I know really well. Another thing was that the first event for me was the Team Sprint, and when you are lining up in a team made up of the three best riders in the world, it’s a nice feeling.
Team sprint was on the first day of competition for me. Warm up, stretch, and we get on the start line to qualify. Countdown, gun fires, and away we go. Garry Mandy out of the gate; I’m onto his wheel at about the 50 metre mark in a flash; we are coming round to complete lap one. Mandy moves up; I accelerate through, just focussing on sticking to the black line, staying aero, power through the whole pedal circle and speed. My lap done, I move up. Gerard O’Connell comes through to power through the final lap. We had to keep an eye on the times from all the teams qualifying after us to see if we made the gold medal ride off later in the day. The last team the ride were the defending champions, the American Flyers; yahoo, we are the fastest qualifiers. Eat some food and relax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Okc3n5EsE
You’ll find it at 1 hour 33 minutes
A few hours later, I warmed up, stretched, and we lined up for the World Championship gold medal ride-off against the defending champions, the American Flyers team. I felt pretty good; the split time from my lap in the heat was the fastest out of everyone. Getting technical, the drop-off was only 0.1 of a second in the second half of my lap. Let’s see if we can go even quicker. Lined up, countdown, Mandy out of the gate, and I got onto him just a bit better this time. Lap one done; he moves out of the way I power through. Line was good, really aero, and feeling good. My lap done, and I move up to get O’Connell through to finish it off. I am rolling round the top of the track watching the scoreboard to see the time. Fantastic, faster than this morning, same drop-off and we got the gold.
Three days later, the sprint was on for me. My qualifying was the first event for the day, so just a little bit cooler but not as cold as training in Sydney on a winter morning. Warm up, stretch, and I am ready to go. I felt pretty good, and I think I got everything right: power on at the right time, good line around the track, aero, speed. Nice, good time: 11.236 seconds (64kph) with only one left to ride: Gerard O’Connell, the defending champion from last year. Watching him as best I could while rolling down, and the time is…. 11.303 seconds. Great number one seed; that is the nicest spot to be in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02qqW9xc1Z0
You’ll find it at 34 minutes 30 seconds
When you are seeded number one, you are racing up against the lowest-seeded rider in each round, so racing through the rounds wasn’t easy, but I wasn’t put into any difficult situations. The sprint is over two days so after winning through day one, I was into the semi-finals on day two. I was up against a tricky opponent I had raced in the USA when I was an elite rider quite a few years ago. His name is James Joseph, and he represented Trinidad at the Olympics when he was younger. These rides were strange; we were racing like we were back in the eighties, nearly coming to a standstill at one point. The big difference between the eighties and now for sprinting is the gearing. Say in 1980 I would have had a 48-tooth chainring, which is a lot smaller than this year's 62-tooth ring, so I made sure I had more height on the bank & tried to keep it rolling. Good races, two straight wins, and through to the finals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SMT_0d1KyY
You’ll find it at 13 minutes 30 seconds
1/2 Final ride 2
You’ll find it at 1 hour 30 minutes
O’connell and Mandy had been battling it out in the other semi with Mandy finishing on top to race me for the gold.
I have raced Mandy many times, not that it’s ever easy, and it’s usually close, going to three rides. I was just trying to stay relaxed. So I don’t write war and peace; maybe watching the videos is the best idea to see how the war was won. I won the first match, Garry won the second match, and Garry got the decider by half a wheel. So I finished with the silver medal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uWvvCkWylI
You’ll find it at 13 minutes
You’ll find it at 47 minutes
You’ll find it at 1 hour 22 minutes
Time Trial was on the last day of the championships, and I was feeling good. Nothing really to get worried about riding a time trial. My main focus is just making sure I give it everything I’ve got. I spend lots of time visualising each part of the event. The first movement, which is very important, and the event should take around 35 seconds. I usually listen to the countdown while the early riders in the competition are starting. 5,4,3, back on 2, 1 explode forward, gate releases; 0- 20 kph first pedal stroke. Power on each pedal stroke 50 kph by second 8. Spin the cadence up down the back straight up to around 62 kph. Smooth transition into the seat, aero, follow the black line, power on, keep it going through the lactate loading, stay aero. Done. So warmed up into the gate, and I think I got everything right but just lost a little bit in the last 125m, maybe it was Garry Mandy using the aero bars, and I didn’t. If you watch the video, they have a final shot which shows how close it was at the finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAXjJwHuwXo
You’ll find it at 1 hour 13 minutes
I hope you enjoyed the read, and if you have any questions, I should be there for café Saturday; Anna is still in Europe catching up with family. Both Anna and I would like to thanks all of our club mates.
