Dutch delight as Chinley cycling star Katie Toft lands two more world titles

Chinley cycling star Katie Toft retained her 3km Individual Pursuit world title and added the Scratch race world crown in another superb display at the UCI Para-cycling World Championships at Apeldoorn’s Omni Sports Centre in the Netherlands.

Katie, 26, first won the 3km title in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a year ago, and kept hold of it with a season’s best time, as well as landing gold in the Scratch 10km race to make it five world titles since March 2018.

She also repeated last year’s feat of winning silver in the 500mm Time Trial, with a personal best time.

She also won the C1 Omnium, which was a test event this year and included the 3km, 500m, Flying 200m exhibition race and the Scratch race - the first year this has been done.

“It feels great to retain my world title and gain another, she said.

“There has been a lot of hard work from everyone involved and to be able to wear the Rainbow stripes for another year on the track is very special.

“I PBed in the 500m, set a World Record in the 200m (15.790), and also got a season’s best in the Pursuit, so I’m pretty happy with the timed events.

“Unfortunately, the other C1 present at the competition decided not to do the 3km (I don’t know the reason for this), nor did they take part in the Omnium which is a shame for the sport and for competition.”

Katie did not have the best preparation with a very difficult flight over to Amsterdam when severe cross winds made several of the passengers ill with motion sickness.

“It was something you normally see on TV,” she said.

“I’m not sure how many times we attempted to land but I was glad when the plane eventually landed.

“It made me very tired and slightly ill, which set me back a little but fortunately we got plenty of time to rest which certainly helped.”

Katie’s other two current world titles are in road race events for the road and time trial championships.

To top it all off she also won the World Cup Series, taking four out six races, two in Belgium and two in Canada, for another four gold medals, a trophy and a jersey.

The new road racing season is her next challenge.

“Now I move onto the road season, where I’ll be competing in Road Racing and Time Trials,” said Katie.

“I’m riding for Storey Racing this year which is very exciting.

“The team line-up is very strong and the year has started really well for all of us already.

“It’s been a very good 12 months, winning five rainbow jerseys and finishing my Masters at Sheffield Hallam University. I’m just forward to the road season starting now.”

This is the third time that Katie has represented Great Britain as a non-Programme rider without any UK Sport funding.

“I’m still unfunded so I’m always looking for people to support me or even for a job that fits around training and competing,” she added.

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