New era of Great Britain Cycling Team talent looking to break through at 2026 Tissot UCI Track World Championships
With less than two years to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, a raft of young, fresh cycling talent has been selected for the first Olympic track qualifying event, the 2026 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Shanghai, China from Wednesday 14th-Sunday 18th October.
Amongst the seven world champions and seven Olympic medallists, nine fresh faced talents will join the track squad for either their first or second elite world championships, to begin their campaign for potential Olympic selection.
In the men’s sprint squad, Harry Ledingham-Horn will be representing Great Britain after a fantastic summer which saw him win a team sprint silver and keirin bronze at the 2026 Commonwealth Games and will be hoping to add to last year’s world championships silver medal.
He will be joined by Paris 2024 breakout rider Ed Lowe who, having won an Olympic silver medal, will surprisingly be making his world championships debut. Completing the team will be Ledingham-Horn's 2025 team sprint silver medallist teammates Joe Truman and Matt Richardson who is returning from injury, but brings the confidence of two European titles from earlier this year with him.
On the women’s side, the new faces on the rise are Rhianna Parris-Smith and Lowri Thomas. Parris-Smith comes from an athletics background but has quickly risen through the GBCT ranks, picking up European, world and Commonwealth medals in recent years and is currently one of the fastest P1 sprinters on the planet.
Thomas hails from Abergavenny, Wales which she has represented twice at the Commonwealth Games, most recently standing atop the podium earlier this summer having won the women's team sprint event alongside Emma Finucane and Rhian Edmunds. Olympic champions Finucane and Capewell round out the squad, looking to add to their extensive medal collections and continue to hone their craft as we move ever closer to the Olympic Games.
The men’s endurance squad sees brothers Noah and Henry Hobbs join the fray; Henry making his worlds debut, while Noah returns for his second showing at this event. Henry Hobbs had a fantastic summer representing Team England on the track at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games where he won two gold medals in the team pursuit and scratch as well as an elimination bronze.
Older brother Noah, meanwhile, has been busy in Europe honing his skills on the road, with two stage wins and multiple top-10 finishes this season. Both Hobbs’ will be looking to use their current form to tie up the season with some track success in Shanghai.
Matt Bostock has also been selected having rejoined the squad in late 2024 with ambitions for LA, after a very successful season on the national road scene. They will join GB endurance veterans Ethan Vernon, Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood who have over ten Olympic and world medals between them and bring experience and strength to the squad.
On the women’s side, Millie Couzens, Erin Boothman and Abi Miller will all make their elite world championships debuts, bringing their ability on the road to the velodrome. Couzens represented GB at this year’s European track championships, being part of the team that stormed to team pursuit gold, before bagging a bronze medal herself in the individual pursuit.
Boothman saw incredible success in the junior ranks and delivered standout performances at her first Commonwealth Games this summer, wining bronze medals in the scratch and individual pursuit for Scotland.
The final debutant, Abi Miller is the youngest rider in the squad at just 18, and having shown huge potential in the past 12 months, will make the step up from being a junior world champion in the team pursuit in 2025.
They will be joining the experience of previous world champions Meg Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris who will be looking to deliver both team and individual success at this key event.
Performance Director for the Great Britain Cycling Team, Stephen Park CBE said:
“As the first track qualification event for the LA 2028 Olympic Games, this event is a crucial stepping stone on our path towards the biggest event in our calendar. In the Great Britain Cycling Team, we pride ourselves on creating an environment where our riders develop into world-class athletes, thrive on and of the bike, and remain eager to represent Great Britain, wherever their careers may take them.
“With over half of this squad having been part of our Performance Pathway at some point in their development and nine of the twenty riders representing for the first or second time, it demonstrates both the current strength of our programme and the incredible depth of talent pushing through for the future – it really is an incredibly exciting time."
You can watch the championships across BBC iPlayer and BBC Two across the five event days (full details are below). You can also follow results updates on the GBCT Instagram channel, @GBCyclingTeam.
The Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the 2026 UCI Track World Championships:
Men’s sprint
Harry Ledingham-Horn Ed Lowe Matt Richardson Joe Truman
Women’s sprint Sophie Capewell
Emma Finucane Rhianna Parris-Smith Lowri Thomas
Men’s endurance
Matt Bostock Henry Hobbs Noah Hobbs Mark Stewart Ethan Vernon Ollie Wood
Women’s endurance
Erin Boothman Megan Barker Millie Couzens Josie Knight Abi Miller Anna Morris
BBC Schedule for the 2026 Tissot UCI Track World Championships
Wednesday 14 October – iPlayer – 11:20-13:40
Thursday 15 October – iPlayer – 09:50-13:55
Friday 16 October – Player – 09:50-14:05
Saturday 17 October – iPlayer – 10:20-14:05, BBC Two – 10:15-14:15 and 18:00-19:30
Sunday 18 October – BBC Two – 06:30-10:30
Image credit: SWPix.
