UCI Track Cycling World Championships

World championships were first held in 1893, in Chicago, under the ICA. They were for amateurs. Separate professional races were held from 1895, in Cologne. Amateurs and professionals competed in separate events until 1993, after which they raced together in "open" races. Championships are open to riders selected by their national cycling association. They compete in the colours of their country.

The winner of ICA championships received a gold medal. The UCI awards a gold medal and a rainbow jersey to the winner. Silver and bronze medals are awarded to the second and third place contestants. World champions wear their rainbow jersey until the following year's championship, but they may wear it only in the type of event in which they won it. Former champions can wear rainbow cuffs to their everyday jerseys.

World track championships are allocated to different countries each year. They are run by that country's national cycling association, although the top referees (President of the Commissaire's panel – PCP, Secretary, Starter, and Judge Referee) are International Commissaires appointed by the UCI.

To take advantage of the best weather conditions and reduce the risk of weather-related program changes, the UCI has long organized track world championships in the (northern) summer. Until 1966, the competition must by regulation take place on an open-air velodrome. It was not until the 1969 edition, organized at the Antwerps Sportpaleis, that the first championship was held on an indoor velodrome. From 1987, the trend reversed and indoor velodromes took over. From 1987 to 1995, there were five world championships organized on an indoor velodrome. Colombia hosts in 1995 the last track world championship organized outdoor.

Hosts

More information Hosts, Editions hosted ...

Hosts	Editions hosted
France	17
Germany	14
Belgium	13
Italy	13
Denmark	11
United Kingdom	10
Netherlands	8
Switzerland	8
Spain	5
United States	4
Australia	3
Canada,  Poland,  Austria,  Czechoslovakia,  Colombia	2
Hong Kong,  Belarus,  Venezuela,  Japan,  Norway,  Hungary,  Uruguay,  Chile	1

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Updated after the 2025 World Championships.

More information Rank, Nation ...

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	France	148	125	135	408
2	Netherlands	126	109	97	332
3	Great Britain	124	99	85	308
4	Italy	92	97	107	296
5	Australia	87	103	82	272
6	Germany	87	81	95	263
7	Soviet Union	58	50	35	143
8	Belgium	57	59	58	174
9	United States	53	49	51	153
10	Denmark	37	44	40	121
11	East Germany	34	31	28	93
12	Switzerland	33	34	36	103
13	West Germany	29	31	30	90
14	China	24	25	22	71
15	Russia	24	23	28	75
16	Spain	21	22	16	59
17	Japan	19	18	19	56
18	New Zealand	17	26	32	75
19	Czechoslovakia	14	9	18	41
20	Belarus	14	2	8	24
21	Poland	9	7	9	25
22	Colombia	7	6	3	16
23	Canada	6	20	17	43
24	Austria	5	7	11	23
25	Hong Kong	5	2	4	11
26	Ukraine	4	7	3	14
27	Cuba	4	4	5	13
28	Czech Republic	3	5	7	15
29	Ireland	3	3	4	10
30	Commonwealth Games Federation	3	2	3	8
31	Lithuania	2	8	11	21
32	Mexico	2	7	4	13
33	Norway	2	3	5	10
34	Argentina	1	5	10	16
35	Malaysia	1	2	5	8
36	Portugal	1	2	4	7
37	South Africa	1	2	1	4
38	Individual Neutral Athletes	1	1	1	3
39	Russian Cycling Federation	0	2	4	6
40	Luxembourg	0	2	2	4
	Trinidad and Tobago	0	2	2	4
42	Greece	0	1	2	3
43	Barbados	0	1	1	2
	South Korea	0	1	1	2
45	Bohemia	0	1	0	1
	Israel	0	1	0	1
	Latvia	0	1	0	1
	Uruguay	0	1	0	1
49	Sweden	0	0	2	2
50	Estonia	0	0	1	1
	Kazakhstan	0	0	1	1
	Liechtenstein	0	0	1	1
Totals (52 entries)		1,158	1,143	1,146	3,447

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Updated after the 2025 World Championships.

Men

No	Athlete				Total	Years	Events
1	Harrie Lavreysen (NED)	20	3	0	23	2017–2025	1 km time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
2	Arnaud Tournant (FRA)	14	3	2	19	1997–2008	1 km time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
3	Jeffrey Hoogland (NED)	11	11	1	23	2016–2025	1 km time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
4	Chris Hoy (GBR)	11	8	6	25	1999–2012	1 km time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
5	Florian Rousseau (FRA)	10	2	4	16	1993–2002	1 km time trial, Sprint, Team sprint
6	Urs Freuler (SUI)	10	0	3	15	1978–1989	Keirin, Points race, Team Pursuit
7	Koichi Nakano (JAP)	10	0	0	10	1977–1986	Sprint
8	Cameron Meyer (AUS)	9	4	2	15	2009–2018	Madison, Points race, Team Pursuit
9	Grégory Baugé (FRA)	9	4	1	14	2006–2019	Sprint, Team sprint
10	Daniel Morelon (FRA)	8	3	5	16	1964–1980	Keirin, Sprint, Tandem

Women

No	Athlete				Total	Years	Events
1	Anna Meares (AUS)	11	10	6	27	2003–2015	500 m time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
2	Kristina Vogel (GER)	11	1	4	16	2012–2018	Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
3	Félicia Ballanger (FRA)	10	1	0	11	1994–1999	500 m time trial, Sprint
4	Victoria Pendleton (GBR)	9	5	2	16	2005–2012	500 m time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
5	Kirsten Wild (NED)	9	4	5	18	2011–2021	Madison, Omnium, Points race, Scratch
6	Sarah Hammer (USA)	8	5	2	15	2006–2017	Individual Pursuit, Omnium, Points race, Team Pursuit
7	Lea Friedrich (GER)	8	3	2	13	2020–2023	500 m time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
8	Emma Hinze (GER)	8	1	2	11	2019–2023	500 m time trial, Keirin, Sprint, Team sprint
9	Natalya Tsylinskaya (BLR)	8	1	1	10	2000–2007	500 m time trial, Sprint
10	Chloé Dygert (USA)	8	1	1	10	2016–2025	Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit

Harrie Lavreysen won the most individual titles with 13. Félicia Ballanger is the female athlete with most individual titles with ten.

Lavreysen is also the only rider to win four gold medals in a single edition, in 2025.

Most successful in each event

22 Events are held as part of the World championships. The table below summarises the most successful athlete and nation in each of the 22 separate events. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of golds, silvers and bronze respectively won by the athlete or nation in that specific event. Athletes and nations are differentiated in the standard way, first by number of golds, then silvers, then bronze medals.

More information Event, Men ...

Event	Men		Women
	Best Male Athlete	Best Nation (male)	Best Female Athlete	Best Nation (female)
Team sprint (men/women)[5]	Arnaud Tournant (FRA) (9/1/0)	France (11/6/6)	Pauline Grabosch (GER) (5/0/0)	Germany (8/0/4)
Sprint (men/women)	Koichi Nakano (JAP) (10/0/0)	France (22/28/35)	Galina Yermolayeva (URS) (6/5/3)	Soviet Union (21/18/9)
Keirin (men/women)	Chris Hoy (GBR) (4/1/0)	Netherlands (7/4/5)	Anna Meares (AUS) (3/3/1)	Germany (7/0/3)
Kilo/500m (men/women)[6]	Arnaud Tournant (FRA) (4/2/1)	France (11/10/8)	Natalya Tsylinskaya (BLR) (4/1/0)	France (6/1/2)
Team pursuit (men/women)[7]	Rasmus Pedersen (DEN) (4/0/2)	Australia (13/3/4)	Laura Kenny (GBR) (4/4/1)	United States (16/9/9)
Individual pursuit (men/women)[8]	Filippo Ganna (ITA) (6/1/1)	Italy (18/13/15)	Tamara Garkuchina (URS) (6/1/0)  Rebecca Twigg (USA)	Great Britain (8/6/3)
Points Race (men/women)	Urs Freuler (SUI) (8/0/0)	Switzerland (13/2/0)	Ingrid Haringa (NED) (4/0/0)	Russia (8/5/3)
Scratch race (men/women)	Franco Marvulli (SUI) (2/0/0)  Alex Rasmussen (DEN)	France (3/1/2)	Yoanka González (CUB)(3/2/0)  Kirsten Wild (NED)	Netherlands (7/5/2)
Omnium (men/women)	Benjamin Thomas (FRA) (3/3/0)	Australia (3/3/2)	Laura Kenny (GBR) (2/3/0)	Great Britain (4/5/0)
Madison (men/women)	Joan Llaneras (ESP) (3/2/0)	France (6/2/0)	Kirsten Wild (NED)(3/1/0)  Amy Pieters (NED)	Great Britain (3/1/2)
Elimination (men/women)	Elia Viviani (ITA) (3/1/1)	Italy (3/1/1)	Lotte Kopecky (BEL) (2/2/0)	Belgium (2/2/1)

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• UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
• UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics
• UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships
• UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships