but track and field fans will be treated to a world championship-caliber indoor competition on Thursday France at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF featuring record-chasing races Olympic medalists and arguably the best international matchups we've seen slated yet this indoor season We preview the top storylines to follow as action commences in Lievin on Thursay which will be streamed live on FloTrack in select territories 3:46.63 -- that's the time Jakob Ingebrigtsen will be looking to beat in the men's mile in Lievin on Thursday Back in January when it was confirmed that Ingebrigtsen would be racing a mile at World Indoor Tour Lievin the intention of racing that distance for him was pretty clear -- break the world indoor record he'll now have to run slightly faster than perhaps originally thought after Yared Nuguse lowered the all-time mark to 3:46.63 at the Millrose Games on Sunday The previous world record of 3:47.01 was held by Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha for nearly six years having set the world indoor 1,500m record (3:30.60) at the meeting in 2022.  this will be the first indoor mile competition of his career Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay crossed the finish line at the World Indoor Tour Lievin meeting less than a second off of the 8:16.60 world record in the women's indoor 3,000m Tsegay has lowered her personal best in the event to 8:16.69 she's looking to finally sit atop the all-time list The multi-time world champion will headline the chase for the world record on Thursday in Lievin Current world leader and fellow Ethiopian competitor Freweyni Hailu will also race along with Paris Olympic 10,000m silver medalist Nadia Battocletti of Italy Tsegay's quest for the world record very likely won't be a solo one No other athlete in the world is as unstoppable as Grant Holloway is at the indoor 60m hurdles discipline that shouldn't change as Holloway will look to grab another win in Lievin and continue his well-known undefeated streak in the event It'll mark his second race of the 2025 indoor season after opening up at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb That currently ranks him third in the world in the event this year indoors The meeting in Lievin has been kind to Holloway in past years Holloway will face strong competition this year from Jakub Szymanski of Poland Just 10 days out from the USATF Indoor Championships American athletes plan on showing up strong in Lievin competitors are slated for the World Indoor Tour meeting on Thursday both on the track and in the field who will be giving his first go in his speciality 200m event this indoor season the Arkansas star who clocked 51.67 for 400m earlier this month at the Razorback Invitational The middle distance front proves intriguing as Bryce Hoppel will look to bounce back in the 800m after taking a loss to Josh Hoey at the Millrose Games in an American record-breaking race.  Holloway will headline the men's 60m hurdles and we'll be treated to yet another star-studded women's 60m hurdles as American Grace Stark will race against Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas keep an eye on the pole vault as Chris Nilsen and Sam Kendricks aim for season's bests in the men's competition and Katie Moon looks to improve her 4.82m world lead on the women's side Follow us on Twitter @FloTrack Follow us on Instagram @flotrack Like us on Facebook. 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While Millrose set the bar so high that only Katie Moon could clear it the World Indoor Tour keeps chugging along with the next Gold level meet set to kick off tomorrow Some of the early stops on the Indoor Tour have been a little underwhelming in terms of the top athletes they’re able to attract and advertise but the list of stars entered for the Meeting d'Athlétisme Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais is even longer than its name And although the big pre-race headlines are sigh focused around two high-profile world record attempts there are a fair number of intriguing storylines to follow beyond chasing Wavelights around the track Will the Americans’ world records last less than a week already the indoor world record holder in the 1500m is entered in the rare European indoor mile to take a crack at the four-day-old mark set by Yared Nuguse Given Ingebrigtsen’s outdoor PB of 3:43.73 and the fact that his 3:30.60 indoor 1500m best is over a second faster than the Millrose boys came through it’s certainly in the cards if the Norwegian time-trial maestro shows up fit and gets a good pace job Grant Fisher’s 3000m world record feels less likely to get quickly reset but with 12:36 5000m runner Hagos Gebrhiwet 7:24 man and steeplechase specialist Getnet Wale this is the track where Lamecha Girma set the old record in 2023 Will Genzebe Dibaba’s world record last into its second decade Gudaf Tsegay looks to attack Dibaba’s 3000m world record from 2014 that she missed by a fraction of a second two years ago, and she’s joined in the race by current world leader Freweyni Hailu (a matchup made all the more spicy given there is no love lost between the two) Not to mention Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti and talented teenager Birke Haylom are in the field and it never hurts to have even more talent in the mix to keep things honest but maybe the safest bet in the entire meet is that Battocletti will break her own national record of 8:41.72—perhaps even by 20 seconds or so Both world record holders in the 60m hurdles are crossing the pond for a Eurotrip but Bahamian Devynne Charlton and American Grant Holloway are meeting up on very different trajectories and while he’s only raced once this season (a 7.42 win at the NB Indoor Grand Prix) he’s the proud owner of eight of the nine fastest performances ever run in the event and isn’t likely to be dethroned has yet to recapture the magic she found in 2024 She sits at #5 on the 60H list so far this season without a win on her card yet this year And posting one in the win column won’t come easy as Jamaican Ackera Nugent and American Grace Stark are also making the trip over Stark has twice run faster than Charlton’s 7.83 season’s best All four of 2025’s sub-two runners line up on the same track Four women have broken two minutes in the 800m so far in 2025 and all four will be on the starting line in Liévin Tsigie Duguma and Jemma Reekie—who finished 1-2 at World Indoors last year—are back for more they’re joined by a red-hot Shafiqua Maloney the South African who had a breakout year last season Duguma is probably the favorite as the reigning World Indoor champ and fastest runner this year but it’ll be a tightly-packed race up front Erriyon Knighton has run exactly one indoor 200m ever That 20.21 debut put him at #12 on the all-time list and it’s not crazy to expect that a little more experience with the two-turn 200m could put him much closer to Frank Fredericks’s world indoor record of 19.92 Where did Frederick clock that performance back in 1996 So it’s safe to say that if Knighton shows up in some kind of form he’s at the right facility to drop something special Action kicks off tomorrow at 6:15pm local (12:15pm E.T.) with the big mile attempt set for 9:10pm/3:10pm. 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Track and field news straight to your inbox Design By Butter Studio Code By Buena Suerte Whether you’re a first-time triathlete starting your swim-bike-run adventure or looking to smash your fitness goals feel like a champion crossing the finish line at a T100 Triathlon event 40 of the world’s best female and male pros battle over a year-long series of races culminating in the T100 Triathlon World Championship Final With over $7M on the line plus the chance to become the T100 World Champion The PTO World Rankings highlight triathlon’s top-scoring athletes – the swim-bike-run superstars who’ve powered their way to victories at the biggest races around the globe UK: Building on the success of their collaboration for the T100 Triathlon World Tour the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon announced today a partnership with the Indoor World Cup Lievin to create a race that will be part of the World Triathlon Cup circuit the event will be delivered in partnership with the Lievin Triathlon Club which has successfully produced the innovative Lievin Indoor Triathlon Festival for the past three years and will see once again this dynamic format for triathlon “When we launched the T100 Triathlon World Tour our stated aim was to take triathlon into the mainstream,” said Sam Renouf “We’ve seen huge progress in our inaugural year surging past our previous broadcast records and growing our social media viewership to the largest in the sport with over 500 million video views of our content last year Our decision to participate in this developing fast and furious format of Indoor racing lets us explore further partnership opportunities and seek to further promote triathlon and the incredible performances of its professional athletes.” The T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup will consist of a 200m swim 2,8km bike and 1km run – and uniquely takes place entirely live and indoors with a specially built 25m pool situated within a 200m oval track The racing action is the fastest in the sport – with the leading athletes taking less than 10 minutes to complete the course The format was tested last year as a World Triathlon Cup and for the previous two years as a Europe Triathlon Cup and since its launch has been one of the most engaging events both for athletes and fans on the World Triathlon calendar “We are excited to be partnering with the Professional Triathletes Organisation to take indoor triathlon further on the global stage This has been a project of passion for our club over the past two years working closely together with World Triathlon which has been warmly embraced by the global triathlon community such as last year’s champions Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and Mixed Relay Olympic Gold medalist Laura Lindemann In adding the involvement of the PTO together with World Triathlon we are excited for this year’s Indoor World Cup event we declare ambitions to make Indoor Triathlon a fixture of the professional calendar – and Lievin as its spiritual home.” The elite racing for the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup in Lievin will feature 120 men and women competing an exclusive number of age group races will be on offer as well as dedicated youth-focused races during the event week The registration for age groupers will launch soon with elite registration following the standard process for a World Triathlon World Cup level event The event will offer all elite athletes similar points to all other World Cups while being promoted on the global stage by leveraging the PTO’s award winning experience in digital and live broadcast production and distribution Further details of how to watch the event will be announced in due course Anthony Scammell E: [email protected] About Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) World Triathlon is the international governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all related multisport disciplines around the world Triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000 while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic programme at Rio 2016 World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development of the sport worldwide sustainability and transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the sport to be extraordinary The T100 Triathlon World Tour is supported by these outstanding partners The T100 Triathlon World Tour is recognised by World Triathlon as the official World Championship Tour of long distance triathlon Receive exclusive PTO content in your mailbox discounts and exclusive partner news/offers from PTO including age-group participation events and pro racing broadcasts you confirm your consent to receive email updates and marketing offers from the PTO This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Just half a second stood between Gudaf Tsegay and the world indoor 3000m record when she competed at last year’s Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF The two-time world champion returns to the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin on Thursday (13) with a view to breaking the mark once and for all She has come close to it on several occasions including her 8:16.69 PB clocking in Birmingham two years ago She owns four of the seven fastest indoor performances in history for the distance and has several fond memories of competing in Lievin having set the world indoor 1500m record there in 2021 No one was able to stick with Tsegay in the closing stages in Lievin last year but that may not be the case on Thursday as she’ll be up against world indoor 1500m champion Freweyni Hailu who holds the world-leading mark for 3000m following her 8:24.17 run in Ostrava earlier this month Olympic silver medallist Nadia Battocletti and Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom also possess the tools to run a fast time Tsegay and Hailu are two of the 10 reigning global champions who’ll be in action in Lievin on Thursday The Olympic 5000m champion from Norway would have watched with interest as his US rival Yared Nuguse broke the world indoor mile record at the Millrose Games last weekend with 3:46.63 Those figures will be Ingebrigtsen’s main target on Thursday when he lines up for the mile racing on the track on which he set the world indoor 1500m record three years ago World road mile bronze medallist Sam Prakel Britain’s Elliot Giles and Kenya’s Festus Lagat are also in the field The athletes contesting the 3000m in Lievin would have also been tuned into the Millrose Games where the world indoor record for that distance fell The field on Thursday features a strong Ethiopian contingent including world road 5km champion Hagos Gebrhiwet two-time world indoor 1500m champion Samuel Tefera The 800m fields are led by the world indoor champions the women’s line-up boasts the full podium from last year’s World Indoors the gold medallist on that occasion and silver medallist at the Olympics in Paris will renew her rivalry with Britain’s Jemma Reekie and world indoor bronze medallist Noelie Yarigo who was a convincing winner at the Millrose Games as will South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel takes on Eliott Crestan there’ll be a strong Ethiopian presence in the women’s 1500m as Tigist Girma Habitam Alemu and Worknesh Mesele all clash over seven-and-a-half laps of the track With Ingebrigtsen contesting the mile in Lievin it gives Azeddine Habz a good chance of victory in the men’s 1500m who last weekend broke the European indoor mile record will face the likes of Sweden’s Samuel Pihlstrom and Portugal’s Isaac Nader World and Olympic champion Grant Holloway is seeking a fifth consecutive win in Lievin but his 10-year winning streak in the 60m hurdles could come under threat by Poland’s Jakub Szymanski who has been in sensational form this year and enters the race with the quickest season’s best (7.39) The women’s race will be similarly competitive as world indoor champion Devynne Charlton takes on USA’s Grace Stark One year on from clocking 20.21 on his indoor debut Erriyon Knighton returns to contest the men’s 200m He’ll face world leader Erik Erlandsson and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic world indoor silver medallist Lieke Klaver lines up against USA’s Rosey Effiong and Britain’s Laviai Nielsen Fresh from a world-leading clearance of 4.82m in New York world champion Katie Moon takes on world indoor champion Molly Caudery and Slovenia’s Tina Sutej in the women’s pole vault two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and world silver medallist Ernest Obiena Following an uncharacteristic fourth-place finish in Belgrade last month world and Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou is seeking his first victory of the year but young Chinese talent Shu Heng could cause a surprise European champion Leonardo Fabbri will clash with European indoor champion Zane Weir and Olympic bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell Cuban duo Liadagmis Povea and Leyanis Perez Hernandez the two best performers in the world this year will take on European indoor champion Tugba Danismaz Offering a unique format that includes a 200 m swim in a temporary pool built into the middle of an indoor track a 2.8 km bike on the outer lanes of that track before finishing with a 1 km sprint T1 World Cup racing returned to Lievin today Support from the Professional Triathletes Organisation once again allowed the race to feature live streaming coverage which provided some pretty exciting viewing The race was a World Triathlon Cup last year and for the two years before was a Europe Triathlon Cup race so the format has been tested a few times and has obviously worked In addition to the World Triathlon ranking points (500) up for grabs the race offered a prize purse of US$60,000 The lively crowd on hand at the track in Lievin were keen to see the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world champion shine … and they certainly weren’t disappointed Olympic silver medalist Hayden Wilde was one of the marquee athletes competing in Lievin and repeated that feat with a solid win in his semi Gjalt Panjer (NED) led the way out of the water and Wilde found himself chasing the lead group but by the 10th of 14 laps around the track Germany’s Henry Graf led the men onto the run course With a couple of laps to go Wilde moved to the front and put his stamp on the heat ahead of Henry Graf (GER) In the second semi France’s Pablo Isotton thrilled the crowd by leading out of the water and would be first out on to the run course it was Ireland’s James Edgar who made a big push to move to the front and take the heat ahead of Great Britain’s Jack Willis with France’s Leo Fernandez and Adrien Briffod crossing the line at virtually the same time as the Brit The third semi saw the Netherlands’ Mitch Kolkman blast through the swim and then stay near the front through the rest of the bike and run eventually crossing the line a second up on Antoine Duval (FRA) David Lang (LUX) and Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) – a photo finish would relegate the Austrian to the B final the feature star of the event went in the first semi Olympic and world champion Cassandre Beaugrand took off like a shot in the water and finished the swim in 2:10 almost 10 seconds up on the rest of the women in her heat By the end of the fourth lap of the bike Beaugrand had started lapping athletes and eventually found herself riding behind the entire field as the chasers all regrouped Hitting the second transition literally a lap ahead of the rest of the women Beaugrand jogged through the one km run to easily take the heat Sara Guerrero Manso and Nora Gmur hammered through the run to catch up to Beaugrand and nail their spots to the final Jolien Vermeylen led the swim in the second semi and found herself in a lead group of four that included Germans Nina Eim and Lena Meissner along with Mexico’s Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal those four were able to cruise through the first part of the run France’s Sandra Dodet pushed hard to try and get up to the group but Tapia Vidal was quick to respond to the Frenchwoman’s push and easily kept the lead group of four clear to make the A final In the third semi Slovakia’s Zuzana Michalickova dominated the swim and did her own version of the Beaugrand strategy working up to the chase group and cruising behind them was a group that included defending champ Laura Lindemann (GER) her countrywoman Julia Brocker and Switzerland’s Cathia Schar who started the run within striking distance of the Slovak leader By 500 m into the run Lindemann was out in front and leading the way towards the final In the end it was Schar and Brocker who would lead Lindemann across the line with Michalickova being forced to push hard in the final lap to hang on to the last spot to the final Graf and Duval took things out in the men’s final with the Dutch athlete managing to lead the way despite a poor lane position next to the wall with Wilde 14 seconds behind as he ran to the transition Kolkman hammered out on to the bike and spread the field out as Wilde found himself in dead last as he started the bike The Dutch athlete was able to work with Duval and Graf to open up some time on the chasers as Wilde worked his way to the tail end of the chase group The three leaders hit T2 with a lead of about six seconds on the chasers Wilde had an uncharacteristically slow transition which made his chances of a podium finish a long shot as Kolkman continued to drive the pace at the front with Duval with Graf staying close As he heard the bell Graf sprinted past the other two and opened up a big gap Fernandez (FRA) would win the group sprint over Wilde to take fourth “I talked to Mitch (Kolkman) before the race and the only way to beat Hayden is to get away in the swim and the bike,” Graf said after the race “I had to use everything I had in the swim to stay with the two guys in front,” Duval said confirming the race strategy that proved successful to hold off the Kiwi You can see the full results here Beaugrand and Michilackova were once again off like shots at the start of the swim but Vermeylen was able to overcome the outside lane challenge to lead the way out of the water A poor transition put Vermeylen out of the mix for the lead group as Beaugrand and Michilackova surged out to the front Switzerland’s Gmur pushed early to join the two leaders but the chase group was being driven by the Germans (there were five Germans in the final) to try and catch the leaders By the end of the bike the chasers were able to catch up setting up a group of nine that hit T2 together Beaugrand set herself up perfectly and was first out onto the run course as Vermeylen desperately tried to hang on to the Olympic gold medalist Lindemann also surged out onto the track for the run but Beaugrand used her fluid stride to pull away and cruise through the run to easily take the win thrilling the crowd as she took a bow just before crossing the line Lindemann would end up second as countrywoman Koch rounded out the podium with Eim finishing fifth and Meissner making it four Germans in the top six “It was a crazy atmosphere,” Beaugrand said “I loved it from the start to the finish It is the type of format I really like – fast and furious – so I told myself to just go out and enjoy it.” as did the rest of crowd on hand to take in the event in France You can find the full results here © Slowtwitch - Built with Federated Computer we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads may adversely affect certain features and functions Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen This is a preview of the event – click on the names to read about impressive victories for Cassandre Beaugrand and Henry Graf The opening event of the 2025 T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup takes place on Saturday March 22 in the Northern French commune of Liévin And it should be an absolute thriller with some of the sport’s biggest names in action Triathlon’s short-course greats will be in attendance at the Arena Stade Couvert Liévin as a crowd of 5,000 watches the new collaborative format put forward by World Triathlon and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) There are plenty of big names in action with France’s Olympic superstar Cassandre Beaugrand set to headline the women’s race, while Paris Games runner-up Hayden Wilde will start favourite in the men’s event as the current World Triathlon number one-ranked athlete The racing is set to start at 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT/08:00 Eastern in the US) on Saturday The women’s event will begin an hour and a half later at 14:30 local time (13:30 GMT/09:30 EDT) Coverage is available on Eurosport 2 and PTO+ / T100 YouTube with the action also airing on triathlonlive.tv Outdoors, Beaugrand was unbeatable as an individual – winning four races from four starts including two further WTCS events in Cagliari and Hamburg. Already in 2025, the 27-year-old has smashed the national 5km road running record at the Monaco 5km Another Olympic gold medallist, Laura Lindemann of Germany, will want to usurp the French hope. She claimed Mixed Relay honours at the Paris Games and started off the 2025 season strongly with a third place finish at WTCS Abu Dhabi in February She was beaten on the day by fellow German Nina Eim who finished second in Abu Dhabi and won twice on the World Triathlon Cup series in 2024 – in Rome and and Wels New Zealander Wilde is the heavy favourite in the men’s event. Despite the disappointment of finishing second to Great Britain’s Alex Yee in Paris last year, the 27-year-old bounced back with victory at WTCS Finals Torremolinos-Andalucia He has started 2025 on the right foot as well, having claimed victory at WTCS Abu Dhabi ahead of potential T1 contenders Henry Graf and Adrien Briffod Many of his regular rivals on the short course such as Yee and Matt Hauser are dipping their toes in other sports and formats early in the 2028 Olympic cycle which could leave Wilde clear to take the title in Liévin His nearest challenger in terms of current world rankings is Great Britain’s Hugo Milner The format will consist of five races for each category involving a 200m swim in a purpose-built 25m swimming pool before triathletes exit the water and complete a 2.8km bike leg Each heat will consist of 12 triathletes (10 or 9 in the women’s event) with the top five in each race earning a berth in the semi-finals The other competitors will goes to the repechage All athletes will race on at least two occasions during the competition On the men’s side there will be three repechages the top three of each and two lucky losers make it to Semis with the top five in each race and one lucky loser heading through 36 athletes make it to the semi-finals and there are three semi-finals The top four in each semi-final go to Final A The Final B will decide athletes 13 to 24 in the final classification The Final A will decide athletes 1 to 12 in the final classification World Triathlon has given some indication of who will be in each heat, but has yet to provide the full start list. Heat one will feature Hayden Wilde (NZL) along with Esteban Basanta (ESP) Mitch Kolkman (NED) heads heat two with Euan De Nigro (ITA) Antonie Duval (FRA) and Gyula Kovacs (HUN) Genis Grau (ESP) and Jawad Abdelmoula (MOR) among others Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) and Leo Fernandez (FRA) with the final grouping involving Tom Richard (FRA) Olympic and World Champion Beaugrand (FRA) is the headline act in heat one with Lena Meißner (GER) Maria Casals Mojica (ESP) and Cathia Schär (SUI) also featuring Sandra Dodet (FRA) enters heat two along with Eim (GER) and Julia Bröcker (GER) with Julian Hauser (AUT) also in contention Anabell Knoll (GER) and Celine Senia (ESP) are part of heat three Tanja Neubert (GER) will take on the likes of Zuzana Michalickova (CZE) Nora Gmur (SUI) and Marta Pintanel (ESP) in heat four while Olmypic Mixed Relay gold medallist Lindemann (GER) takes on Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) Sara Guerrero Manso (ESP) and Franka Rust (GER) in the final women’s heat Athletes finishing from first to 15th will earn a share of the prize purse in both the men’s and women’s race The individual prize breakdown for each race is below: Follow the madness of the 'Race that eats its young' on RUN247 With the remarkable fifth consecutive world championship title sewn up last weekend in Newcastle Billy Bolt has nothing to prove or lose as the season concludes this Saturday in France Nothing to lose except the small matter of closing out the year with yet another three motos to his name to complete a season where he has only dropped two motos in total (from 18 raced motos) There are plenty of scores to settle on Saturday night as Jonny Walker one of two riders to take a moto win off Bolt this year (Dominik Olszowy was the other) badly wants to snatch more motos for the new Triumph Racing team The Prestige class overall top three is more or less settled but the battle between the Brightmore brothers rages and after the best race of the season in the final moto in Newcastle we all naturally want more of the same across the night in Lievin Ash and Mitch Brightmore sit third and fourth and separated by 12 points heading to France That’s a healthy margin between the two X-Grip Racing riders with the younger brother But the spice in mix here is the lack of love lost attitude between them on track.  Ash put some hard moves on his brother last weekend in Newcastle and if they both start to employ the same tactics against Billy and Jonny we could see a spicy night’s racing The fight to complete the top five overall is worth keeping an eye upon as well although Eddie Karlsson looks to have it sewn up Riding a different spec Stark Varg in terms of weight restrictions imposed needlessly by the FIM at the start of the season Karlsson has to defend against Dominik Olszowy on the Rieju It’s a big enough points gap of 15 to not be too much stress for the Swedish rider but the battle behind the lead riders is always worth watching in Prestige class Both Junior and Youth world crowns are up for grabs this weekend and both have young Spanish riders odds on favourites with healthy points advantages In the Junior World Championship the TTR Squadre Corse rider Marc Fernandez has proved the classier rider across the season with dominant races a few dogged riders from bad positions and some fortune along the way Round six in Newcastle was decisive after nearest rival Milan Schmuser who had been on a roll eating away at the leader’s points advantage Crumbling three times while leading meant he handed the overall to Fernandez on a plate The net results is Fernandez holds 287 points to Schmuser’s 251 and the likelihood is the Spaniard will claim the world championship with ease Sherco UK’s Toby Shaw will have to work hard to defend his third spot overall in the Juniors from a hard charging Henry Strauss the maths could get tricky on the night as these two fight for third After a maiden career overall win in Newcastle Frasier Lampkin is the rider to watch this final GP of the season in the newly formed Youth 125 class The son of the Trial legend seemed to make a step-change in front of his home crowd last week and ended the night with the kind of muscular ride his dad and grandad would have been proud of But Alfredo Gomez’s protégé in the AG Racing team has been more consistent all season though and the 16-year-old Spaniard holds an 18-point championship lead to stand as the inaugural SuperEnduro Youth World Cup champion elect Via the series live feed (cost €7.99 for this one, final race): playlive.net Or on FIM.TV for the same price: fim-moto.tv Create a personal Enduro21 account to access our new forum receive exclusive competitions and money saving offers Enduro21 is all about motorcycle enduro and off-road riding. Read more Donations to Enduro21 can make a huge difference to what we do Learn more We're on the lookout for writers, photographers, videographers and enduro enthusiasts, from all around the world. Read more This website uses cookies that are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the privacy policy By accepting this OR scrolling this page OR continuing to browse Wout van Aert has won a silver medal at the Cyclocross World Championships in Liévin The 30-year-old Belgian of Team Visma | Lease a Bike fought his way back to the front after a difficult start but had to acknowledge his superiority to Mathieu van der Poel The triple world champion touched a fence with his hip and lost precious time Van Aert made his way to the front and picked up a lot of opponents he joined the chasing group behind the sole leader Mathieu van der Poel The Dutchman grabbed a big lead and rode unthreatened to his seventh world title he rode away from Thibau Nys and Joris Nieuwenhuis and convincingly secured silver it was his eighth time on the World Championship podium I knew beforehand that everything had to be in place for me to compete with Mathieu With someone like Mathieu you know it will be difficult to come back but I assumed I could compete for the podium spots." Van Aert returned to the chasing group thanks to an impressive catch-up I felt that I didn't lose so much time compared to Mathieu I think that's a good sign." Despite the unfortunate start I was extremely pleased that everyone appreciated my decision to participate here I'm glad I was able to give everyone a nice Sunday." Subscribe yourself for the Team Visma | Lease a Bike newsletter and receive previews for races By ZK GohArmand Duplantis came agonisingly close to setting a third pole vault world record in the span of just 11 days, but ultimately settled for a win on the World Athletics Indoor Tour nearly added a centimetre to his best but knocked the bar over with his shin on his second attempt at 6.19m in Liévin Duplantis was in scintillating form in France and 6.07m on his first try at each of those heights he had to be content with the last of those heights as his final result Nearest rival Sam Kendricks could only clear 5.90m He had one miss at 5.95m before choosing to retire from the competition 🥇","event":null,"destination_url":"","entry_point_tag":"base","entry_point_type":"instory_campaign"}" data-tracking="click" href="https://www.olympics.com/en/sign-in?entry_point_type=instory_campaign&entry_point_tag=base&template=base&origin=https%3A%2F%2Folympics.com%2Fen%2Folympic-channel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Olympic Membership - Free Live Stream Sports & Original Series - join now With Duplantis having broken the World Record twice in the last 11 days everyone in a sell-out 5,000-strong crowd in northeastern France was hoping for a repeat as the 20-year-old himself pointed out after his second record-breaking feat on Saturday "it's unfair to think I'll break it every time I compete then if I have the energy left I’ll crank it up a bit.” he had the win in the bag early with his easy clearance at 6.07m and he clearly had the energy to "crank it up" having already won the overall pole vault title Highlights from Final Round of the 2025 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship in Liévin Prestige Class Contact | Press and media | Terms | Privacy policy © Copyright 2024 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship Yared Nuguse's world record did not last long.  Just days after Nuguse ran a 3:46.63 men's indoor mile world record at the 2025 Millrose Games mutil-time Olympic medalist and world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the record to a new level At the 2025 Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF Ingebrigtsen took over a second off Nuguse's mark the mile in Liévin was publicized as a world record attempt at the hands of Ingebrigtsen The 24-year-old Norwegian talent already owns the 1,500m indoor world record Two pacers and wavelengths helped Ingebrigtsen throughout much of the race as Ingebrigtsen split 56.39 through the opening 400m and 1:52.55 at 800m A 26-second final lap helped seal the deal as he surged to the 3:45.14 world record the record-breaking race on Thursday served as Ingebrigtsen's first-ever run at the distance indoors Ingebrigtsen now owns both the indoor and outdoor (3:43.73) men's mile world all-time marks Yomif Kejelcha held the indoor record behind his 3:47.01 mark from 2019 he also broke his own 3:30.60 1,500m world record en route to his mile mark Video footage from the event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloTrack subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription Like us on Facebook Get the most important Track & Field stories delivered straight to your inbox Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen will return to the scene of his world indoor 1500m record when he races an indoor mile for the first time at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF in Lievin on 13 February The 24-year-old ran his world indoor 1500m record of 3:30.60 at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in 2022 and has gone on to set world records outdoors in the 2000m and 3000m Outdoors the world and Olympic 5000m champion has clocked a European record of 3:43.73 for the mile – a time that places him third on the world all-time list having won the 1500m in 2021 and 2023 as well as in 2022 He will be joined in the French city by USA’s Sam Kendricks – the first athlete announced for the meeting in the pole vault Five members of the women’s pole vault field for the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe also part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Olympic finalists Angelica Moser of Switzerland Italy’s Elisa Molinarolo and Tina Sutej of Slovenia will compete at the event on 7 February and they will be joined by home athletes Anjuli Knasche and Jacqueline Otchere with Knasche also having made the Olympic final in Paris Pre-race favourite Hayden Wilde has given his reaction to his disappointing fifth-place result at the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup Lievin on Saturday night The man nicknamed the Maltese Falcon for an amazing chase from behind on the Mediterranean island earlier in his career wasn’t doing his flapping wings celebration in France as Germany’s Henry Graf won the event on Saturday But Wilde, the current number one short-course athlete and winner of the opening WTCS race in Abu Dhabi, was always focused on the middle-distance T100 series this season with Singapore in his sights next week In a post on his official Instagram account the charismatic Kiwi said: “Man what a day @‌t100triathlon @‌lievintriathlonindoor @‌worldtriathlon what a show super fun format “Came into this one well overcooked with my eyes on Singapore @‌t100triathlon Kudos to all the lads you can’t come into this arena and expect an easy ride “For me this is totally out of my comfort zone I know I’m a better open-water swimmer than in the pool and that showed.” The race format in Lievin was a 200m swim in a purpose-built 25m pool before a 2.8km bike and 1km run on the same 200m track and acknowledged that race winner Henry Graf Frenchman Antoine Duval and Holland’s Mitch Kolkman are “king of the pool” and “outclassed everyone” to finish in the top three But the 27-year-old Paris silver medallist put it all down to experience saying: “This sort of racing isn’t suited for me but this is why I showed up to work on my skills and knowledge “When you’re in the pack it’s pretty much impossible to move up and when you’re at the back it’s pretty much game over even with the fastest bike and run splits it wasn’t enough to come back with this short format and paid for it in the carnage of T2.” Wilde decided to taper back on his short-course racing in 2025 and will instead experiment with longer distances He won in Abu Dhabi last month but won’t appear again in the WTCS series until October as he concentrates on middle-distance action Just five days after his US rival Yared Nuguse set a world indoor mile record in New York Jakob Ingebrigtsen went one better at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée EDF – not only smashing the mile mark* but also taking down the world indoor 1500m record* along the way at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin on Thursday (13) The two-time Olympic gold medallist was paced through the first five laps he was out alone in front for the remainder of the race but managed to maintain the record-breaking tempo Ingebrigtsen passed through 1500m in 3:29.63 taking almost a second off the world indoor record of 3:30.60 he set on the same track in 2022 He then dug deep and continued his relentless pace through the final half lap and charged through the finish line in 3:45.14 a significant improvement on the 3:46.63 clocking Nuguse recorded at the Millrose Games on Saturday “It feels amazing,” said Ingebrigtsen after his first ever indoor mile race Ingebrigtsen becomes the first athlete since John Landy in 1954 to set world records for the mile and 1500m in the same race Stefan Nillessen was a distant runner-up in 3:52.70 with Ireland’s Cathal Doyle finishing third in 3:53.18 Eight other world-leading marks were set throughout a high-quality evening of athletics World indoor 1500m champion Freweyni Hailu handed two-time world champion Gudaf Tsegay her first ever defeat in Lievin Tsegay had been targeting the world indoor 3000m record of 8:16.60 having come close to it on several occasions and she was on track to challenge it at half way She maintained that pace through 2000m (5:31.28) with Hailu and fellow Ethiopian Birke Haylom positioned close behind then Hailu moved into the lead with 400m to go Tsegay had no response in the closing stages as Hailu went on to win in 8:19.98 improving on the world-leading mark she had set in Ostrava nine days prior and moving up to third on the world indoor all-time list who took seven seconds off the world U20 indoor record with 8:25.37 Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti set an Italian indoor record of 8:30.82 in fourth There was another Ethiopian sweep of the podium in the women’s 1500m World road mile champion Diribe Welteji ran unchallenged for most of the second half of the race to win in a world-leading 3:58.89 Compatriots Habitam Alemu (4:03.86) and Worknesh Mesele (4:05.06) finished second and third respectively World and Olympic champion Grant Holloway maintained his 10-year winning streak in the men’s 60m hurdles and notched up his fifth Lievin win with a world-leading 7.36 who intends to defend his world indoor title in Nanjing next month Wilhem Belocian of France was second in 7.46 while in-form Pole Jakub Szymanski had a rare off-day and was fifth in 7.55 Five days after being disqualified for a false start at the Millrose Games Jamaican record-holder Ackera Nugent rebounded in style with a convincing victory in the 60m hurdles She pulled ahead over the final two barriers and crossed the line first in a world-leading 7.75 USA’s Grace Stark was second in 7.82 with France’s Laeticia Bapte taking third in 7.85 World silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri put together an impressive series to win the men’s shot put but threw beyond 21 metres with his five remaining attempts topped by a world-leading 21.95m in the final round Compatriot Zane Weir was second with a season’s best of 21.72m World champion Katie Moon set her third world-leading mark in as many competitions this year winning the pole vault with 4.83m ahead of world indoor champion Molly Caudery (4.75m) Moon ended her series with three solid attempts at 4.90m Other world leads were set by triple jump winner Leyanis Perez Hernandez who covered two laps of the track in 50.76 The men’s 3000m ended as a duel between two of the most exciting young distance talents in the world Niels Laros of the Netherlands managed to make a break in the closing stages going on to win in an outright Dutch record of 7:29.49 Ethiopia’s Biniam Mehary followed behind closely in 7:29.99 taking a couple of seconds off the world U20 indoor record Belgium’s Eliott Crestan won the men’s 800m in Lievin for the second year in a row He overtook world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel with 120 metres to go and went on to win in 1:44.81 World indoor champion Tsige Duguma continued her winning streak in the women’s 800m Prudence Sekgodiso equalled her own South African record of 1:59.88 to finish second Just moments before he bade farewell to his five-day-old European indoor mile record Azeddine Habz won the men’s 1500m in 3:32.29 just 0.05 shy of the French record he set at last weekend’s Millrose Games Isaac Nader was second in a Portuguese indoor record of 3:32.59 Ersu Sasma equalled his own Turkish record of 5.90m to beat a quality pole vault field while China’s Zhang Mingkun handed world and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou a rare defeat in the long jump *Subject to the usual ratification procedure Gudaf Tsegay and Katie Moon will return to the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée EDF in Lievin for the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting on 13 February All three are no stranger to the Arena Stade Couvert Holloway has won the men’s 60m hurdles in Lievin for the past four years The Olympic champion clocked a meeting record then went on to improve his world indoor record with 7.27 in his very next race On the same day Holloway made his Lievin debut back in 2021 Tsegay broke the world indoor 1500m record The Ethiopian powered to a 3:53.09 victory Tsegay has notched up three further victories in Lievin since then the two-time world champion will contest the 3000m and will once again take aim at the world indoor record of 8:16.60 running 8:16.69 in Birmingham in 2023 and 8;17.11 in Lievin last year US pole vaulter Moon will be making her fourth appearance in Lievin The two-time world champion last competed there in 2023 European 400m champion Natalia Bukowiecka is another past winner set to return to Lievin She set a Polish indoor record of 50.90 when winning in Lievin in 2023 she has added the outdoor Polish record to her collection clocking 48.90 last year before going on to earn Olympic bronze in Paris 28 Feb 2025.css-1g6gooi{margin:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-top:2px;visibility:visible;color:hsl(0,0%,20%);box-sizing:border-box;}.css-1wy0on6{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;box-sizing:border-box;}DAY 1 We’re thrilled to announce that Wout van Aert will compete in the cyclo-cross World Championships this Sunday Wout expressed his strong desire to be on the start line we fully support his decision and can’t wait to watch him give it his all at the worlds The World Championships only recently came into my mind and after Maasmechelen the Belgian team coach my coach at Team Visma | Lease a Bike and I decided to compete I am excited to start in such a beautiful race and I think that this extra boost is doing me good in the lead-up to bigger goals on the road Obviously the preparation has been very different Head of Performance Mathieu Heijboer: “Wout is a true cyclocross enthusiast The 2025 edition of the Lievin T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup is in the crosshairs of the world’s top short-course triathletes, with superstars Hayden Wilde, Cassandre Beaugrand He is currently World Triathlon’s world number one as well On the women’s side Olympic champion Beaugrand is set to lineup in her home country The 27-year-old had the ultimate 2024 season with that win in Paris followed by a first World Triathlon Championship Series crown Wilde’s season has started in the same vein as his 2024 campaign after claiming victory at the opening event of the 2025 WTCS in Abu Dhabi And the New Zealander will be keen to add to his early season medal collection in France but he will face a highly talented field in the World Cup event over a unique super-short format Olympic bronze medallist Léo Bergere is a likely contender. He finished behind Great Britain’s Yee and Wilde in Paris, and beat his New Zealand rival at WTCS Weihai in September last year when finishing second, again behind Yee finish runner-up to Wilde at the WTCS Grand Final and will be eager to reverse fortunes in his home country Bergere’s compatriot Dorian Coninx must also be regarded as a challenger for the podium The 2023 WTCS Finals victor was a regular top five finisher in the series in 2023 and finished fourth in last year’s final in Torremolinos a quintet of British talents are also scheduled to take part in the event – Sam Dickinson It would certainly be difficult to look past the French star – she obliterated France’s 5km road record earlier this year and appears to be in top shape for the event which comprises a spectator-friendly format of a 200m swim Emma Lombardi will provide one of the main sources of competition for Beaugrand She finished third in Torremolinos and fourth in the Paris Olympics The German pair on Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann will also fancy their chances. The duo finished on the podium at WTCS Abu Dhabi in February and could be set for a German-French showdown with Beaugrand and Lombardi – in fact France are represented by eight athletes Three Brits will also be in the reckoning – Lara Atkinson The elite racing will feature 120 men and women competing The event will also offer elite athletes the same ranking points (500 to the winners) and prize purse ($60,000) as all other World Cups Click here for the full provisional start list The World Athletics Indoor Tour, now approaching its 10th year, has once again expanded with a packed 2025 calendar featuring more than 60 meetings across all levels With little more than two months to go until the first fixture of the season meetings spread across 19 countries in Europe North America and Asia have been announced and the scoring disciplines confirmed The tour has grown from just seven meetings in 2020 to 61 competitions for 2025 The upcoming World Athletics Indoor Tour begins on 2 January in Tallinn The series will feature nine Gold level meetings – more than any season in the past – kicking off in Astana Kazakhstan on 25 January and culminating in Madrid on 28 February 25 Jan: Astana Indoor Meet for Amin Tuyakov Prizes – Astana Kazakhstan29 Jan: Belgrade Indoor Meeting – Belgrade Serbia2 Feb: New Balance Indoor Grand Prix – Boston USA4 Feb: Czech Indoor Gala – Ostrava Czechia7 Feb: INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe – Karlsruhe Germany8 Feb: Millrose Games – New York USA13 Feb: Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF – Lievin France16 Feb: Copernicus Cup – Torun Poland28 Feb: World Indoor Tour Gold Madrid 2025 – Madrid The scoring disciplines on the World Athletics Indoor Tour rotate each year For 2025 the Gold level scoring disciplines will be: Scoring is as follows:First place = 10ptsSecond place = 7ptsThird place = 5ptsFourth place = 3pts Each athlete’s best three results will count towards their overall point score The athlete with the most points in each scoring discipline at the end of the tour will be declared the winner and will be awarded a USD$10,000 bonus They will also be offered a wild card entry for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 Each Gold meeting will offer at least USD$7000 in prize money for each individual discipline on the programme Picture shows an empty track before a training session ahead of the Cyclo-cross World Championship in Liévin Changing weather could lead to unpredictable racing in France An international field has arrived in Liévin to compete at the 2025 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships (January 31-February 2) the Team Relay taking place on Friday and racing continuing with the men's and women's junior under-23 and elite divisions throughout the weekend parts of the course were closed due to heavy rainfall which disrupted some of the riders' plans to preview the circuit ahead of the event Riders could still preview parts of the course but the organisers closed areas of the route that pass over grass But the rainy weather is expected to clear before the racing begins on Friday with the temperatures dropping to below freezing overnight before climbing back to 6°Celsius during the day making way for what could be muddy conditions “It will be cloudy with occasional light rain,” Sporza's Bram Verbruggen reports on the weekend weather forecast.  “The freezing cold will also return on Saturday and Sunday morning after noon we will gradually get clear spells at 5 degrees Sunday will also see a cold start to the day with low clouds but clearings will follow quite quickly and in the afternoon it will be quite sunny with 5 degrees.” The organizer and course builder at the Liévin Worlds told Wielerflits that the changing weather conditions could lead to several outcomes from a tough battle through the thick mud to dry and faster conditions.  then you will have to walk parts," he said then you get a very nice cross with really nice power sections." Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006 Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023 Germany’s Henry Graf continued his upward trajectory with an impressive victory in the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup Lievin as pre-race favourite Hayden Wilde was never a factor in northern France Graf was the anchor man that secured the gold medal for the German Team at the Abu Dhabi Mixed Relay Series in February and at the Mixed Relay World Championships in 2024.  And he played it perfectly in this ultra short format indoor event – part of a three-man break on the bike before delivering an unstoppable kick on the last lap of the run to put the race to bed with Mitch Kolkman (NED) third after shaping the whole race on the swim The race format was a 200m swim in a purpose-built 25m pool the Paris Olympian and the fastest swimmer in the men’s final last year repeated the trick here to blast the final wide open the current number one short course athlete and winner of the opening WTCS race in Abu Dhabi He emerged 14 seconds down on Kolkman and with 14 200m loops on the bike to come that proved too big a deficit though it should be pointed out his current focus is on the middle-distance T100 series which starts early in April Up front Kolkman was joined by Duval and Graf and they were nearly three quarters of a lap ahead of what became a big pack behind At T2 Wilde was still 11 seconds behind and it was clear the front three had already done enough with just a 1km run to come And it was down the back straight on the fifth and final 200m that Graf simply powered clear to take the win Duval chasing him home in second and Kolkman claiming a deserved podium spot in third Picture by 2021 Getty ImagesBy Scott BregmanSwedish pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis picked up another win Tuesday at Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin Duplantis hasn't lost since the 2019 World Championships in Doha and won all 13 events that he competed in during 2020 Though Duplantis’ win seemed routine on paper; in practice The 21-year-old vaulted only twice: clearing the bar in his first attempts at 5.6m and 5.86m he retired due to injury when the bar was raised to 5.92m Duplantis could be seen motioning with his hand at his neck as if to indicate that he was done before walking over to speak with his mother Tuesday’s win is Duplantis’ third straight in 2021 after victories at the ISTAF Indoor meet in Dusseldorf in late January and the Rouen 2021 Elite Tour meeting on Feb The men’s pole vault competition included a stacked field with reigning Olympic champion Thiago Braz of Brazil, 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France, 2019 World pole vault champion Sam Kendricks of the United States and world record holder Duplantis all participating American Chris Nilsen matched Duplantis’ 5.86m vault for second place The Frenchman passed at 5.86m and failed three attempts at 5.92m ExclusiveAthletes to Watch - Tokyo 2020 | Grant HollowayHe shocked the world becoming World Champion in 2019 Find out about one of the most competitive athletes going to Tokyo Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay demolished the 1500m world indoor record set by Genzebe Dibaba by more than two seconds winning in 3:53.09 The United States' Grant Holloway set an American record in the 60m hurdles His 7:32 pace is the second best at the Lievin meeting Holloway was the previous American record holder at 7:35 it was a surprise win for 19-year-old Lemlem Hailu of Ethopia dismissing Gabriella Szabo of Romania’s 1999 record of 8:34.09 it was nearly another record for Ethiopia's Getnet Wale clocked a 7:24.98 Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen also set a meeting record in the men’s 1500m It is the fifth fastest 1500m indoor time in history Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria also posted the year’s best result in the long jump at 8.25m London 2012 Olympic champion Lavillenie may be approaching the autumn of his career but believes he can still win major events That ambition may have been put on hold by coronavirus lockdown but the Frenchman will compete with world record holder Mondo Duplantis and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks in a live streamed 'garden' event this Sunday Lavillenie also talks about his special relationship with Duplantis and reveals his future dreams in our exclusive interview Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand delighted a raucous home crowd as she powered to a sensational win at the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup Lievin The French superstar was the clear favourite and she showed why as she was never troubled earlier in the day as she cruised into the final And though she was ‘only’ second out of the water in the super short format (200m swim she eased to the front by T2 and left her rivals trailing on the run who also won gold in Paris when anchoring her country’s Mixed Team Relay with her compatriot Annika Koch rounding out the podium in third She was a second behind Jolien Vermeylen after the 200m swim but the Belgian’s transition cost her – Beaugrand It would come back together late on the 2.8km bike course but it was Beaugrand – who else – who was first out of T2 Given her run prowess and the fact she’s recently shattered the French 5k record on the road there was surely no one going to catch Beaugrand bar a mishap Lindemann got closest but it was all relative – Beaugrand was able to celebrate before the line and still have six seconds to spare a huge margin given a total winning time of 10:19 Your access to this service has been limited If you think you have been blocked in error contact the owner of this site for assistance If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send" You will then receive an email that helps you regain access Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 5 million WordPress sites The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence Click here to learn more: Documentation 6 May 2025 9:17:06 GMT.Your computer's time: document.write(new Date().toUTCString()); The Dutchman made it three cyclo-cross world titles in a row with an emphatic win in Lievin moving clear of his rivals less than three minutes into proceedings He was 22 seconds clear at the end of lap one of eight led the chasers despite suffering an early crash which ripped his shorts the chasing riders were never able to get close with two-time Olympian van der Poel a minute in front with two laps remaining was able to ease up in the closing stages and high-fived someone in the crowd midway through the final lap and put up two fingers on the other to signal his seventh crown Van Aert was 45 seconds behind in second with his Belgian teammate Thibau Nys another 31 seconds adrift Van der Poel has now equalled the record for cyclo-cross world titles held by Belgian Erik De Vlaeminck whose seven triumphs came between 1966 and 1973 "It's a record that was standing for a very very long time," he told UCI afterwards "You never imagine that you'll win seven world titles." "We saw it yesterday in the Under-23 category with my teammate (winner) Tibor Del Grosso Often the best thing to do is go to the front and do your own thing especially on this course which is very tricky I had a good start and a super feeling and it worked it gives you wings for the rest of your race." Olympic cycling includes five disciplines: road Some of the best riders in the world shared their take Mathieu van der Poel geared up for the world championships next month by winning the final two races of the cyclo-cross World Cup this weekend the Dutch rider claimed his seventh success in as many races this season at home in Hoogerheide on Sunday Van Der Poel had beaten home hope Wout Van Aert at Maasmechelen in Belgium Reigning world champion Van Der Poel demonstrated his return to form after picking up a rib injury in a crash last month "I'm not 100 percent yet but my broken rib doesn't hurt too much anymore," said the 29-year-old Alpecin rider Leading from the first of the seven laps on Sunday he won with a 1-minute 42-second lead on Belgian Michael Vanthourenhout who consoled himself by winning the final World Cup classification after 12 races Van Der Poel is favourite for the cyclo-cross world championships in Lievin from January 31 to February 2 where he will bid to match Belgian Eric De Vlaeminck's record of seven world titles Van Aert confirmed he will also be competing in Lievin setting the stage for a thrilling duel between the pair and my winter has gone well," said the Visma-Lease a Bike rider "The world championships only recently came into my mind and after Maasmechelen the Belgian team coach and I decided to compete." "I'm excited to start in such a beautiful race and I think that this extra boost is doing me good in the lead-up to bigger goals on the road." The 30-year-old Van Aert has only competed in five cross-country races this season He has lost both his confrontations against Van Der Poel But on Saturday in Maasmechelen where he finished second the triple world champion in the specialty seemed to be able to rival the Dutchman Get the most important Cycling stories delivered straight to your inbox World indoor record-holder Gudaf Tsegay ran the second-fastest indoor 1500m of all time clocking 3:53.92 to improve her own meeting record at the ORLEN Copernicus Cup the penultimate Gold level meeting of this season’s World Athletics Indoor Tour Rebounding after her 3000m defeat at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin on Thursday Ethiopia’s Tsegay was back on top in Torun and she was clearly delighted with a performance that missed her own world record of 3:53.09 set in Lievin in 2021 by just 0.83 The two-time world champion now owns the three fastest women’s indoor 1500m times in history having also run 3:54.77 – the previous meeting record – in Torun in 2022 The next fastest performance on the world all-time list is her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba’s former world record of 3:55.17 set in Karlsruhe in 2014 Tsegay – who explained after the race how she had suffered flu in the lead up to the competition in Lievin – was on form in Torun and she looked comfortable as she followed the pacemaker through 400m in 1:02.1 followed by her 19-year-old compatriot Birke Haylom who finished one place behind Tsegay in the Lievin 3000m in a world U20 indoor record But Haylom couldn’t hold on as Tsegay picked up the pace the 28-year-old reaching 1200m in 3:07.9 and surging away to storm over the finish line in 3:53.92 was a distant runner-up in 3:59.82 and Worknesh Mesele completed an Ethiopian top three in 4:02.19 With little over a month until the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 and with wild card entries up for grabs in the 11 scoring disciplines on this year’s World Indoor Tour athletes were keen to bank some precious points and make their mark Britain’s Elliot Giles was another athlete looking to rebound after his performance in Lievin and after finishing 10th in the mile there he ran a well-judged race to win the 1500m in Torun who set a world U20 indoor 3000m in Lievin had tracked the pacemaker and took control once Adam Czerwiński stepped aside But Giles was waiting to kick and he left his attack for the final bend striding past Mehary to clinch the win - 3:35.43 to 3:35.70 Sweden’s Samuel Pihlstrom was third in 3:36.06 Meeting records also fell in the women’s 400m and shot put Henriette Jaeger had the run of her life to win the first of the 400m finals the 21-year-old dipping under 51 seconds for the first time indoors with a Norwegian indoor record of 50.44 She was a dominant winner ahead of Czechia’s world U20 champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel (51.15) and raised her hands to her face in shock after seeing the time in which she had stopped the clock Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic won the other final in 51.36 The women’s shot put offered a rematch between the top three at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe and this time two-time world champion Chase Jackson turned the tables on world indoor champion Sarah Mitton who won in Karlsruhe with a North American indoor record of 20.68m and two-time European champion Jessica Schilder Jackson’s opening throw in Torun remained her best and with that 20.24m put the 30-year-old added 3cm to the US indoor record she equalled when securing silver at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade Schilder also surpassed 20 metres with 20.01m to secure the runner-up spot The men’s long jump was also a clash of major medallists and Italy’s world indoor silver medallist Mattia Furlani saved his best until last to secure his first ever win over world and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou in style the men’s World Athletics Rising Star for 2024 improved on the world lead of 8.23m he shared with Sweden’s Thobias Montler soaring 8.37m to break a meeting record that had also been held by Montler Furlani’s winning mark bettered his own Italian indoor record and was just a single centimetre off his outright best achieved at the European Championships in Rome last year The 20-year-old had already led the competition with his 8.21m leap in the third round and he eventually won by 34cm over Tentoglou and Montler World silver medallist Ernest Obiena of the Philippines won the pole vault with a season’s best of 5.80m ahead of home favourite Piotr Lisek with 5.70m while the men’s shot put was won by world leader Leonardo Fabbri as he topped an Italian 1-2 ahead of Zane Weir Italy’s world indoor bronze medallist Zaynab Dosso ran the second-fastest women’s 60m of the year so far winning a sprint showdown against 2022 world indoor champion Mujinga Kambundji and world indoor silver medallist Ewa Swoboda in 7.05 Kambundji and Swoboda had earlier clocked 7.19 to lead their heat but Dosso was the dominant force in the final and won by 0.02 ahead of Kambundji Jamaica’s world leader Ackera Nugent dipped to victory in the 60m hurdles final holding off Ditaji Kambundji by just 0.01 – 7.79 to 7.80 Nugent earlier clocked 7.93 to finish third in the heat but improved to the fourth-fastest time of her career to win the final Ditaji Kambundji’s performance was a PB while Nadine Visser finished third in 7.82 USA’s Louis Rollins won the men’s 60m hurdles final in 7.59 while the 800m races were topped by Ethiopia’s world indoor champion Tsige Duguma in 2:00.04 and Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu in 1:46.97 Paulina Ligarska topped a Polish 1-2 in the pentathlon scoring 4500 to win ahead of Adrianna Sulek-Schubert with 4458 Results Fem van Empel has crowned herself cyclocross world champion for a third time in a row the 22-year-old proved the strongest after an exciting duel with her compatriot Lucinda Brand Brand and Pieterse immediately managed to create a gap Van Empel - who won the two previous editions of the world championships - put pressure on her compatriots in the opening laps Pieterse was dropped at the front after another acceleration Van Empel and Brand then gave each other little space The Dutch duo started the final lap together The Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women talent thus captured her third consecutive world title “I don't quite realize that I am world champion again” but also mentally it was not easy after last weekend's disappointing results so I am extremely happy that it worked out.”   “This course lent itself to a long battle with Lucinda and Puck It soon became clear that we were evenly matched Already after a few laps I knew where I could make the difference I also want to congratulate Lucinda on her great race All season long she has been riding at a high level I'm happy that I got to share the podium with Lucinda and Puck.”   Sports director Jan Boven reflects on his rider's third world title Although we were at the start here with a lot of confidence Fem was meant to be in top form this weekend and she was This is the icing on the cake of her cyclocross season She already won ten races before this world championships 1-2-3 for the Netherlands as Puck Pieterse secures the bronze medal in Liévin Puck Pieterse rounded out the podium in third place for an all-Dutch podium The much-awaited battle between the Dutch rivals transpired into an intriguing contest which was decided in the final moments of the elite women's six-lap race Brand powered away while Van Empel was taking a bike change on the penultimate lap which put Van Empel under severe pressure ahead of the closing lap of the race 22-year-old Van Empel used her running speed and strength on the steep climbs to claw back on the final lap The rivals went side-by-side and traded blows in the closing stages as they charged through the last technical sections a mistake by Brand coming into the final tarmac finish gave Van Empel the advantage she required to take a slender victory Pieterse gave everything to challenge her other two rivals in the opening stages Pieterse was distanced and was left struggling a dozen seconds behind her rivals before losing time in the closing stages to finish third 1:09 behind Van Empel was able to ride a finishing mud mound as Brand stalled to force her winning margin “I didn’t realise that I’d won the race [coming into the tarmac finish] because I needed to go really deep,” said Van Empel it was quite hard after last weekend [two results off the podium]; this is quite emotional.  "Lucinda (Brand) was a great competitor today “I’m happy for her as well for her podium finish and Puck coming in third place we [the Netherlands] did a very good job." Van Empel also noted the changing weather and course conditions in the days leading up to the race and it was difficult as it changed after the recon this morning It’s always tricky in the race to see how the course is and you need to find some points where you are better than the rest I expected before the race that it might be a hard battle The elite women’s race was billed as the showcase on Saturday at the Cyclo-cross World Championship and potentially the most open race of the weekend Weaknesses have been found in defending champion Van Empel’s armoury this season with the Dutch youngster winning 10 of 19 outings coming into the event A small field for the elite women’s event saw 35 entries from 12 nations with the Netherlands represented by nine competitors The small mining town of Liévin in northern France hosted the world championship event over a three-kilometre course which included a combination of steep banks A sea of Dutch jersey dominated the front row of the starting grid but it was French rider Amandine Fouquenet who powered around the outside to lead into the first corners Dutch riders Pieterse and Van Empel were in close proximity as the field ebbed through the opening sections Pieterse won the Dutch National title last month and took the lead going into the opening technical off-camber as Fouquenet fell back after her starting effort Van Empel was keen to put her mark on the event and powered past Pieterse after the first climb and the pair quickly had a gap of 10 seconds After winning the World Cup event in Maasmechelen last weekend Blanka Kata Vas was keen not to allow the leading pair to ride away and she chased along with the experienced Brand the leading pair had established a gap of nine seconds over a lone chasing Brand and Vas was a further five seconds back After failing to ride away at the front on the opening lap Van Empel stopped her charge on the second lap and Brand closed to form a leading trio As both of her rivals took bike changes Brand took advantage and led for the first time Pieterse was next to attack through a final muddy section of the lap and pulled out a slender advantage as Van Empel struggled to get mud and stones out of her pedals The European champion was forced to change bikes and lost a handful of seconds on Pieterse and Brand After being put onto the back foot on the third lap Van Empel showed her strength as she again powered up the lap’s steep bank to regain the lead Pieterse was gapped and fell four seconds behind following a bike change After following the mid-race attack of her rival Van Empel hit back at Brand and forced a slender advantage and Brand returned as her rival elected to run a technical section Pieterse was able to stay in contention with her Dutch opponents and was dangling at four seconds back A fourth-lap bike change by Van Empel allowed World Cup overall winner Brand to pull out an advantage once again the Visma-Lease a Bike rider was again equal to the challenge and quickly clawed her opponent back The tactical games of Brand and Van Empel continued into the penultimate lap and Pieterse sat 15 seconds back while Inge Van der Heijden battled her way into fourth Van Empel was showing signs of struggling to clip into her pedals throughout the race but was losing no ground as the battle continued A further bike change by Van Empel allowed Brand the slender advantage she required to gap her rival by a handful of seconds again Brand threw everything at her rival with little over a lap remaining and pulled out a sizable gap Van Empel sprinted up the finishing road climb and powered back to her opponent The defending world champion used her running speed and strength on a steep climb to pull back to her rival once again The pair came into the final section together before Brand got caught on the final mud mound and Van Empel sprinted up the tarmac finish for victory Results powered by FirstCycling Ben raced as an amateur cyclist in the UK from a young age into the senior ranks on the road and has spent over 10 years as a news and sports journalist Ben has been covering cyclocross for media outlets since 2021 and has been on the ground reporting at World Championships in Zolder Away from cycling as a freelance sports journalist Ben regularly reports on a range of sports including football he is happiest whilst reporting on-site at cyclocross races in Belgium and the Netherlands Building on their collaboration for the T100 Triathlon World Tour the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon have announced a partnership with the Indoor World Cup Lievin to create a race that will be part of the World Triathlon Cup circuit which has produced the innovative Lievin Indoor Triathlon Festival for the past three years and is positioned as a dynamic format for triathlon “Our decision to participate in this developing fast and furious format of Indoor racing lets us explore further partnership opportunities and seek to further promote triathlon and the incredible performances of its professional athletes.” where the bike and leg segments are undertaken The racing action is fast and furious – with the leading athletes taking less than 10 minutes to complete the course said “We are excited to be partnering with the Professional Triathletes Organisation to take indoor triathlon further on the global stage “This has been a project of passion for our club over the past two years “In adding the involvement of the PTO together with World Triathlon we are excited for this year’s Indoor World Cup event while being promoted on the global stage by leveraging PTO’s digital and live broadcast production and distribution Dutch rider equals Erik De Vlaeminck on seven titles in elite men's event as Belgians Wout van Aert settles for second Arch rival Wout van Aert (Belgium) who started in the fourth row and was caught behind a crash off the start line where he had to put his foot down while fellow Belgian Thibau Nys rounded out the podium in third Van der Poel has now matched Eric De Vlaeminck's historic number of seven elite men's world titles and will have the chance to break that record next year at Hulst on home Netherlands turf.  Dutch rider Marianne Vos holds the all-time record for the number of elite cyclocross Worlds victories having won eight elite women's cyclocross world titles in her career Van der Poel's rival Van Aert had the expectation of Belgium on his shoulders Van Aert was boxed in from the start and then lost 46 seconds when caught behind a crash The large Belgium squad waited for their leader but the damage was done as Van der Poel powered away on the opening lap to victory in front of an estimated 35,000 spectators Van Aert rode most of the race chasing alone in second but failed to pull the gap back on his rival Nys saw off a challenge from Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) to claim his first elite world championship medal who had time to celebrate with his Dutch fans on his way to victory and saluted by making the number seven with his fingers “This means a lot; it’s history; it was a record that was standing for a very long time When you start racing in the elite category but you never imagine being a seven-time world champion It’s something special," said Van der Poel in a post-race interview with the press “We saw yesterday with the under-23 category which my teammate [Tibor] Del Grosso won that often the best thing to do is to go in the front and doing your own thing “Especially on this course because it was super trick and a lot of problems to get into the pedals as well if you are in a group then it is even more annoying “I had a good start and a super-good feeling I just tried to get a big gap to discourage the chasers a bit; that worked “I was immediately fast for the first few metres before Toon Aerts passed me I knew the places where I needed to be in front to do my own thing I punctured immediately after the first section it was quite long that I had to ride with a front tyre that was flat A total of 45 men from 15 nations lined up on the starting grid in Liévin and a huge crowd of around 35,000 spectators eagerly awaited the showcase event The 2.8-kilometre course had turned into slick muddy conditions with technical off-camber corners awaiting to test competitor’s bike handling Van Aert was a surprise entrant and had to start from the fourth row after only finishing five cyclo-cross races this season his rival Van der Poel had a front-row start as he looked to defend his world title in front of a huge Dutch fanbase The Belgium team were tasked with helping Van Aert to the front from his low gridding so he could battle with Van der Poel defending champion Van der Poel had the quickest start alongside Toon Aerts Van Aert was briefly held up behind a crash and ripped his shorts on the barriers and fell back to 37th place Van der Poel sensed his rival was much further back and charged through the opening lap to pull out a slender gap Spaniard Felipe Orts was in the chasing pack alongside Belgians Michael Vanthourenhout and Laurens Sweeck Van der Poel was on the charge and with the opening half-a-lap his gap had extended to 13 seconds and Van Aert was 42 seconds back After finishing silver medallist last season Dutch rider Nieuwenhuis joined the medal contention after the opening lap while Van Aert had pulled himself up to 16th place Nys recovered from an opening lap mishap and was part of a string of Belgians in the medals fight Nieuwenhuis was playing his part for the Netherlands team and sat at the front of the chasing string of Belgians to ease the pace By the conclusion of the second of eight laps Van der Poel’s lead had grown to 45 seconds as Van Aert closed to the chasing group Van Aert launched his attack to close the gap but was followed by Nieuwenhuis and Nys A bike change for both of his companions resulted in Van Aert forcing a gap to put his medal rivals under pressure Van der Poel maintained his 45-second advantage and was still in control The pace of Van Aert took a tool on Nieuwenhuis who was gapped while taking a bike change and being followed for a medal by Nys it was head-to-head between Van Aert and arch-rival Van der Poel An intriguing fight for bronze was developing with Nieuwenhuis and Nys joined together and 26 seconds clear of their nearest challengers Van der Poel remained in control and one minute ahead of Van Aert while the bronze medal fight was happening 1:38 behind Nys had bided his time after playing a team tactic early on and charged away from Nieuwenhuis into the bronze-medal position Van der Poel remained 56 seconds ahead of Van Aert The solo battle between the medallists continued into the last lap as Van der Poel had enough advantage to celebrate Van Aert was left 45 seconds behind to finish in second while Nys celebrated his first elite Cyclo-cross World Championship medal in third Results powered by FirstCycling Marie Schreiber takes second for Luxembourg with the Netherlands' Leonie Bentveld third in Liévin Bäckstedt stayed ahead of Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg) who made a late charge and finished second while Leonie Bentveld (Netherlands) took bronze The British rider came into the event as a firm favourite but crashed heavily on the opening lap on a slippery descent after changing onto a bike with lower tyre pressure she charged through the mud and pulled out a sizeable advantage After recovering from a heavy crash last weekend Schreiber provided the challenge for the British star a series of errors on one technical section cost her and a slip on the final lap by Bäckstedt allowed her opponent to come fighting back within 16 seconds Bäckstedt was not to be denied and powered through the final gap to take victory 39 seconds ahead of Schreiber Bentveld finished in bronze after battling past quick starter Célia Gery (France) “It hasn’t been the smoothest of seasons but the last few races boosted my confidence,” said Backstedt “The first lap wasn’t so smooth for me .. It was completely opposite conditions to the recon and just adrenaline from the start of the world championships I slipped on one of the corners and wiped out I managed to reset myself and come back to the front “I wanted to drop the tyre pressure a little bit to see what it was like; I thought it would help Once that happened and I was on that lower pressure I felt a lot more comfortable different to what I thought it would be like even the flat corners; it was super-easy to wipe out in places I was still having to push all the way to the line A total of 45 riders from 19 nations battled it out for under-23 women’s honours Defending champion Bäckstedt came into the event as the firm favourite after sealing the under-23 World Cup overall last weekend The 2.8-kilometre course snaked around parkland and included short but steep climbs and technical off-camber descents Freezing temperatures overnight in Liévin meant that the course was still firm but softening quickly as riders took the start line A mistake from challenger Schreiber away from the start saw the Luxembourg national champion miss her pedal and shuffle back in the pack Sprinting away up the tarmac start it was pre-race favourite Bäckstedt who led the bunch through the opening sections Schreiber showed her speed through the opening corners and then sprinted away at the front French home favourite Gery was able to follow Schreiber as Bäckstedt crashed and was pushed back to fourth Bentveld finished third in last year’s under-23 World Championships and was also at the front in the opening exchanges European champion Gery was thriving with the home support in the opening lap as the leading group of four distanced their competitors While her challengers took a bike change Bäckstedt opened a gap before sliding out at the bottom of a steep bank Gery and Schreiber had gapped Dutch rider Bentveld by nine seconds Bäkstedt requested less pressure in her rear tyre following two first-lap crashes and had a bike change as the course was becoming more slippery the defending world champion put the power down and opened up a gap on Gery and Schreiber Following her first lap exploits Gery started to suffer as she Schreiber and Bentveld were each separated by a handful of seconds Gery was the next competitor to make a small error and Schreiber took advantage to move into silver position Bäckstedt was almost out of sight and led by 21 seconds from Schreiber while Gery was taking on an energy gel as she sat just ahead of Bentveld Bentveld took advantage of the fading Gery and joined her in the fight for the bronze medal position by the halfway distance Schreiber was determined not to allow Bäckstedt an easy ride and reduced the gap to 12 seconds at the end of lap three Bentveld was looking behind to the position of Gerry who sat nine seconds further back in fourth going into the penultimate lap the slippery section which tested Schreiber in the early stages again caused the Luxembourg champion to falter as the gap grew back out to 24 seconds behind Bäckstedt That mistake gave the Brit renewed optimism as she eased her pace through the technical sections and kept in control Taking the last lap bell Bäckstedt was out of sight on the uphill finish and  26 seconds ahead of Schreiber The same section which impacted Schreiber the previous lap caught out Bäckstedt who fell to her knees and saw her gap cut to 16 seconds As the course flowed and cut back on itself the Brit was able to see the position of her rival as she defended first place and pulled her gap back out to 25 seconds The CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto rider finally had time to celebrate a third cyclo-cross world title and her second at under-23 level in a row Schreiber picked up her first world championships medal finishing 39 seconds behind in second Bentveld repeated her bronze medal performance from last season finishing 1:20 back from the winner Results powered by FirstCycling just an hour down from the North coast of France welcomed SuperEnduro for the season finale and a night for wrapping up of championship positions With Billy Bolt already crowned the Prestige class winner at the penultimate round last weekend Lievin concluded the podium places and had the final honour of seeing the 2025 Junior World Champion and inaugural Youth World Cup crowns settled built on clay-based dirt and one which rutted up as the night show progressed and tricky to piece it together for riders Easy mistakes were common as ultimately the track had too much to say for itself on the night It was another routine performance from Bolt for a start-to-finish win in the opening moto By normal standards it was a routine race in fact with the main excitement behind Bill and Ash Brightmore for the final podium place between Eddie Karlsson on the Stark and Jonny Walker whose mistake in Superpole meant the Triumph rider was fighting the second row Karlsson had a good night overall and held strong to claim third ahead of a fading Walker who had capitalised more than once tonight on his brother’s errors was an easy second place to secure third overall in the 2025 championship – although Mitch’s problems were amplified big time by a blown rear shock in this moto Jonny Walker made the best of a front row start to lead moto 2 while Billy got caught in the rocks and was almost last of all Not that it mattered as the new champion sailed through the pack to fourth by the end of lap one and to the front taking over the lead when Walker again stalled the Triumph a lap later With the track eating away at rider stamina the results were not certain with everyone including Bolt making mistakes Bolt did hold on though from Walker who ticked off consistent the laps to take second this time for third with Mitch coming out on top of his brother and robbing the points which would affect the overall for his younger sibling a fierce fight for second place between Eddie Karlsson Jonny Walker and Ash Brightmore was one of the races of the night The track was at its worst with some horrible ruts and holes in places between after and in front of obstacles which caught front tyres badly affected launches and twisted bikes on take offs after getting caught in the rocks on lap one He worked his way passed Karlsson and then his brother before a tucked front dropped him back again A big crash for Bolt mid-race brought Walker closer but it didn’t stop the champ taking a final victory ahead of Jonny and Ash which meant the top three closed out the season in championship finishing order The overall podium saw Jonny and Ash joined on the same points but Walker taking second with a two second places A slightly chaotic moto one in the Juniors saw Milan Schmuser lead lose it but then fight back to the front for the moto win The admittedly nervous champion in waiting had a steady and safe P4 to edge closer to the crown but not yet claim it Moto two was the one for Fernandez who took the lead from a front row start Clearly still taking it calm and collected the German made a mistake and let Fernandez back through to win the race and win an emotional world title Moto three seemed like a formality to end the series as riders got themselves over the finish line for the season in a relatively calm race out front Schmuser finally nailed a race without mistakes and took the final win without hassle with Fernandez second Roland Liska and Toby Shaw were the focus of attention as they had a ding-dong for the last podium place In the end it came down to the final moto for these two where they banged elbows and Liska eventually muscling to fourth in the race but third overall in the Junior World Championship by one point from Shaw Another night of close racing in the 125 class saw Frasier Lampkin leading moto one but fending off in a nip and tuck fight with champion elect Ramon Godino The Spaniard looked like he had the speed and true to form took the lead went on to win and with that claim the first-ever Youth World Cup crown It was a well-earned victory and fitting he claimed the title with victory for the AG Beta Racing team Moto two saw the tables turned with Lampkin working hard to keep it clean on a difficult track for the 125 The Beta UK rider held off the new champ and sealed second overall in the championship the Austrian taking a maiden podium in Lievin Michal Laska took a brace of fourth places on the night and claims third overall in the championship on a TM Photo Credit: Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi It may be the first year of the new Olympic cycle but there is a stellar women’s line up for the second WTCS event of 2025 in Yokohama on May 17 Remarkably every single WTCS winner since May 2023 is on the provisional start list in Japan Start lists always need to be taken with a pinch of salt four weeks out but most of the big hitters have confirmed they intend to race, headed by reigning Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand Up against her will be great rival Beth Potter the Brit who won bronze in Paris in both the individual and team races and was the 2023 World Champ Potter too has begun the campaign with some impressive road running, setting a 10k PB of 31:15 before coming second to Beaugrand in London at that Supertri E showpiece And Beaugrand’s compatriot Leonie Periault, who finished just ahead of Potter at the European Road Running 10km Championships in Leuven recently will be looking to defend her Yokohama title No country was more impressive in the season opener at WTCS Abu Dhabi in February than Germany Lisa Tertsch led a podium clean sweep ahead of Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann and all three are in Yokohama – as are Annika Koch But the Brits too look strong as Kate Waugh heads to Japan fresh from her brilliant debut victory at T100 Singapore At the time of writing, fellow Brit Georgia Taylor-Brown is the only woman in the world’s top-10 who isn’t racing in Japan The 2016 Olympic winner Gwen Jorgensen is part of a formidable five-woman American team Be one of the first to try our new activity feed Silver medalist Van Aert details complications in his bid to take on Mathieu van der Poel: ‘It was a typical world championship A fourth-row start position didn’t benefit the former triple world champion and a good start would make or break his race One minute into the race it was clear that there would be no duel Van der Poel was already riding solo in front while Van Aert completely missed his start Van Aert was caught behind a scuffle in the first corner By the time he made it to the front Van der Poel was long gone Van Aert finished as runner-up and made a gesture when crossing the line to pay tribute to Van der Poel The Dutch ace came level with the cross legend Erik De Vlaeminck who captured seven world titles in the late sixties and early seventies “I took my hat off for him when I crossed the line Seven world titles is a record that was thought to be out of reach In a certain way I’m glad to be present on the day Mathieu managed to pull it off It seems like it was meant to be: he first me second,” Van Aert said in the mixed zone shortly after the race There were no regrets when Van Aert glanced back on his decision to race in Liévin It’s the biggest cyclocross race of the year If Van Aert was riding his best race of the season “It’s only after a few laps that you can compare with Mathieu I don’t think I was going much slower than him I don’t think I lost a lot during four laps “It made sense to try and keep the pressure on During the second half of the race it’s obvious that without bad luck it was over for the victory Starting in arrears made it really difficult,” Van Aert said Thirty year-old Van Aert only rode a handful of races and didn’t collect enough points in the World Cup to earn a top-16 start position That wasn’t a problem in his original schedule in which he skipped worlds “There’s nobody to blame for my start position but me I intentionally decided not to do many cross races this season,” he said “Otherwise I would’ve been more to the front “The other guys at the start rode those races It’s a fair system which we all know about at the start of the season In the previous races I was lucky with the starts Then you need to stay calm and kick off your race once you get some space.” there wasn’t space and he was spotted being held up behind Eric Brunner (USA) and Michael Boros (Czech Republic) “I was boxed in in the first straight section or nearly crashed on the inside; I was held up at the barriers I came to a standstill and was way back in the pack I knew I needed some luck to catapult myself right into the front of the race I walked up to the podium and they said my bibs were ripped I also lost my Garmin somewhere along the race two French kids walked into the mixed zone to bring back the Garmin they found when it ripped off his wrist where they were standing Van Aert took his time to thank them and take a photo together “It recorded an accident,” Van Aert laughed By then it was time to head out into the big crowds in Liévin and switch focus to the road season Cool to see Thibau Nys make the podium at cyclocross world championships standing on stage with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert final event of 2014-15 Bpost Bank Trophy series.) [image or embed] — Neal Rogers (@nealrogers.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 3:33 PM What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view The favourites for the elite men's and women's rainbow jerseys in Liévin from Van der Poel and Van Aert to Brand and Van Empel The legendary Belgian star won seven elite men's CX world titles between 1966 and 1973 Van der Poel stands poised on six world titles and is the heavy favourite to match the historic record 10 years after claiming his first elite rainbow jersey at the age of 20 If the Alpecin-Deceuninck star can take victory then he would then have the chance to break the record next year on home turf in the Netherlands as Worlds heads to Hulst His biggest challenge comes from childhood rival Wout van Aert after his surprise late entry was announced on Sunday who will have an army of Belgian fans making the short trip over the border into France to support him ► How to watch Cyclocross World Championships 2025: Live streams, TV broadcasts, Schedule the elite women’s race could be one for the ages with defending champion Fem van Empel bidding for her third consecutive elite world title at just 22 this past season has seen the gap from Van Empel to her competitors close significantly.  She'll likely face a huge battle with her Dutch teammates who finished her pre-World Championships campaign with victory in Hoogerheide last weekend well ahead of Van Empel in fourth and is also a former world champion from 2021 Brand will likely enter as the main favourite after Marianne Vos also sadly pulled out due to injury. Based on a hillside in the French town of Liévin the 2.5km Val Souchez circuit is typically French and has a mix of longer sections - where absolute power will be essential with bridges and more steps being added for the Worlds When the French National Championships were held at the same venue three years ago there was soft and muddy ground as Joshua Dubau soloed to victory It's been raining for a lot of the run into the headline events on Saturday and Sunday so the mud could be heavily affected the forecast for now is meant to be dry on race day It is hard to look beyond the Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) who will be the firm favourite to win his seventh world title in Liévin and equal De Vlaeminck's incredible tally of seven elite world titles The 30-year-old has won all seven of his cyclocross races this season and has only been beaten once in his last 24 outings in the 'cross field due to a crash at the Benidorm World Cup last year Van der Poel suffered a broken rib on his way to winning the Exact Cross in Loenhout and was forced to miss events in both Koksijde and Dendermonde – with both courses requiring large amounts of running The Dutchman returned in style last weekend winning at both Maasmechelen and Hoogerheide looking well back to his almighty best ahead of Worlds if the Liévin course becomes less rideable as a heavy weekend of racing goes on and the Dutch star struggles with his running then his broken rib may cause trouble and open up the contest Van der Poel hasn't lost an elite World Championships race since 2018 so has history on his side and should be confident of the record coming his way  Despite Wout van Aert being a late entry to Worlds the Visma-Lease a Bike rider is never a contender to be underestimated and has won three elite cyclocross world titles in his career The 30-year-old is a surprise contender at Liévin and was due to conclude his cyclocross season last weekend after finishing runner-up behind Van der Poel at Maasmechelen he will don the light blue of Belgium to offer up a challenge to the heavy favourite Van Aert will be encouraged by his performance last weekend after briefly challenging his Dutch rival before crashing and finishing 1:14 behind It will take a huge performance by Van Aert to win gold in Liévin but he has long been providing masterclass rides on the road and cyclocross field He's also the only rider to win a world title with Van der Poel on the startline - at under-23 level in 2014 and three times consecutively between 2016-2018 He will be hoping for the heaviest ground possible in Liévin to test the rib pain of rival Van der Poel to the maximum and prevent him from making more history.  young star Thibau Nys will be competing in his second elite world championship after winning the rainbow jersey at both junior and under-23 levels with his father Sven Nys having won two elite world titles and nine national titles Nys junior stepped up to new heights in the 2024-2025 'cross season and won his first European and Belgium national crowns and will be bidding for a clean sweep of the jerseys in Liévin While his father was a cyclocross stalwart and his devastating turn of pace saw him win stages at the Tour of Hungary Tour of Norway and the Tour of Romandie last season with debuts at the Ardennes and possibly the Tour de France set to come later in the year Nys showed that turn of speed to leave a tired Van Aert in his wake to win the Benidorm World Cup in fine fashion and would have been hoping to do the same again in Liévin his aim of a top finish in France has been dented after being forced to miss the World Cup in Maasmechelen last weekend due to illness and then failing to finish at Hoogerheide the following day Nys will definitely be on the start line but whether he's fully recovered or not is a different story With four world championship medals to his name the experienced Baloise Glowi Lions rider Lars van der Haar always manages to rise to the occasion and time his form just right The 33-year-old has won two European and four Dutch national titles but the elite world crown has eluded him despite four visits to the elite podium since 2013 and a runner-up finish as recently as 2022 Van Der Haar struck his first World Cup podium of the season on a fast Benidorm course and repeated the result at Hoogerheide last weekend as he looks set to have peaked perfectly for Liévin.  He's tasted World Championship glory before on two occasions at the under-23 level but has been in a tricky era vying for wins behind the pair of Van der Poel and Van Aert He'll need something truly special if he is to win After finishing third in last year’s Cyclocross World Championships Michael Vanthourenhout is looking set for another strong finish in 2025 "The circuit is not super technical and the bends are long it will be something for riders with a lot of substance I immediately thought of Michael Vanthourenhout." The 32-year-old was the closest finisher to Van Der Poel last weekend at Hoogerheide as he chased alone and finished 1:42 behind they could stop Van der Poel with team tactics and Vanthourenhout is one of several Belgians who could sneak away for victory Trade teammate Eli Iserbyt could also be a weapon in the Belgium attack in fast conditions while Toon Aerts will be looking to solidify his first season back following a doping ban with a world championship medal The reigning world champion Fem van Empel had finished off the podium just once this season before having a nightmare last weekend with two of her worst results.  Van Empel’s key strength since joining the elite ranks has been her mental calmness and decision-making under pressure which has won her a host of races in the last laps the 23-year-old looked under pressure last Saturday and Sunday when several crashes and mistakes resulted in a sixth-place finish in Maasmechelen which she followed up with fourth in Hoogeheide after being unable to follow Lucinda Brand and crashing out of the podium fight The 22-year-old will be hoping for a third successive title before embarking on a road campaign with Visma-Lease a Bike which has drawn some of her focus away from her 'cross career Lucinda Brand remains the most consistent rider in the women’s cyclocross field and has showcased her strength and power time and time again throughout this past season A strong road season saw the Lidl-Trek rider play key roles in the Spring Classics Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift which she credits for her current stunning form Brand had two months off before a top-10 at the Gravel World Championships and a 27-race and counting ‘cross season Despite being by far the busiest 'cross rider she has yet to finish off the podium and clinched eight wins Brand will come into the women’s race as many people’s favourite after riding clear of her competitors at Hoogerheide on Sunday to win by 28 seconds with Van Empel way off and many others falling to her unstoppable diesel engine The Dutch rider often comes good later in the race with her huge endurance base always getting highlighted in the latter laps The longer those vying for victory fail to drop Brand the more likely a second title will look for her After being crowned World and European Mountain Bike World Champion even bigger things were expected from the 22-year-old Puck Pieterse this 'cross season During a shortened campaign the Fenix-Deceuninck has podiumed in five World Cup events and won the Dutch National Championship but has not looked quite as strong as she did in the 2022-23 or 2023-24 CX seasons who won a stage of last year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and showed her true potential as a road race could rise to the occasion and take victory in Liévin after podiuming the last two years Pieterse only believes her form is getting better after seeing off the charge of Van Empel to take third at Hoogerheide last weekend With the road season and Classics approaching perhaps Pieterse's best will come out at the biggest race of the season Dutch riders dominated the World Championships elite women's race in 2024 and this year’s race looks set to be a similar story one rider who could disrupt that is Blanka Vas from Hungary can compete with the top riders and is only getting stronger as she matures into a top 'cross rider The 23-year-old has also hit form at the right moment and took the second World Cup victory of her career at Maasmechelen on Saturday before finishing runner-up at Hoogerheide the following day The five-time Hungarian National champion would make history for her country if she is to take victory or finish on the podium in Liévin two feats no Hungarian has ever managed in the elite women's or men's race Vas has had previous success in peaking for the World Championships and took silver and bronze in the under-23 age category so she knows how to taper correctly for Worlds With Van Empel not at her best and with a win over Brand last Saturday Museums have no borders,they have a network we invite you to discover the French version of the article written by Marie-Lys Marguerite and Hélène Vassal entitled ‘Externalised Storage: An Opportunity for Sustainable Development A Case Study of the Louvre Conservation Centre in Liévin           Read the article (French) The English translation of this article remains available on the Routledge website           Routledge website ICOM members have free access to all issues of Museum International by logging on to the ICOM member space. 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