We can today announce the star-studded Great Britain Cycling Team squad travelling to Rio de Janeiro to compete at the 2024 UCI Para-track World Championships, taking place from 20-24 March.

The 29-strong team boasts 11 current world champions, who collectively boast a staggering 18 world titles between them, which they will look to defend at the first para-cycling event of the Paralympic year. The event is also one of the final opportunities to secure all-important qualification points for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Tandem duo Sophie Unwin and her pilot Jenny Holl will be heading to the world championships as favourites, after winning a sensational hattrick of titles on Jenny's home track in Glasgow last summer. The duo will be joined by Paralympic stalwarts Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall and the relatively new pairing of Lizzi Jordan and Danni Khan, who will make her para-track world championships debut piloting Jordan.

In the men’s tandem events, Neil Fachie will be hoping to take an incredible 20th world title with pilot Matt Rotherham, while newly-crowned national sprint champions James Ball and pilot Steffan Lloyd are sure to be hot on their heels. In the endurance events, Steve Bate and Chris Latham and Chris McDonald and Adam Duggleby will be aiming to deliver stand-out performances in the Rio 2016 Paralympic velodrome.

In the women’s C4 events, Kadeena Cox will be aiming to continue her dominance in the C4 500m time-trial, while Amelia Cass competes in the C2 alongside Daphne Schrager, who will be looking to show her mettle after an unfortunate crash took her out of last year’s world championships. Multiple world champion Katie Toft will compete in the C1 events, while young rider Morgan Newberry will contest the C5 events.

In the men’s squad, Paralympic Games veteran Jody Cundy will be using the championships to test his form as he ramps up towards a potential eighth Paralympic Games in the summer. Alongside him in the C4 category will be newcomer Archie Atkinson, who had a breakout year in 2023, taking the scratch world title at his debut world championships. 

Multiple world champions Fin Graham and Jaco Van Gass will represent Great Britain in the C3 events as they eye selection for their second Games. Matt Robertson and Ryan Taylor will contest the C2 events, while C5 1km time-trial world champion Blaine Hunt and teammate Will Bjergfelt round off the team.

John Lenton, Paralympic Performance Manager for the Great Britain Cycling Team, said:

“Our Paralympic programme has always been world-leading but over the past few years I have seen the strength and depth of our squad grow to new heights and continue to raise the bar of what is possible in para-sport.

“We are now less than six months away from the Paralympic Games and these championships will be the last opportunity our para-track riders have to fine tune their performances in a race-day environment, and also for us to see how other nations are performing.

Stephen Park CBE, Performance Director for the Great Britain Cycling Team said: “We’re blessed with a brilliant squad of both emerging and highly decorated riders, who are fantastic ambassadors for our sport both on and off the bike. We know that this is another huge year for para-sport, and I’m looking forward to seeing our riders take on the world and inspire the nation once again.”

The Great Britain Cycling Team’s para-track cycling programme has been developing the country’s best riders for more than 20 years, with the support of the UK Sport World Class Programme and The National Lottery. Since World Class Programme funding started, the programme has supported 50 Paralympic champions as well as a staggering 143 para-track world titles.

Last month we celebrated a successful first year of Limitless, our grassroots disability and para-cycling programme, which has ambitions to support five riders onto the GBCT programme for the LA 2028 Paralympic Games. Since launching, the programme has already enabled 1,500 riders to experience the joy of cycling through a growing network of clubs nationwide.

Unfortunately, C1 cyclists Fran Brown and Sam Ruddock have had to withdraw from the event on medical grounds.

Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the 2024 UCI Para-track World Championships:

Women

Amelia Cass (C2)
Kadeena Cox (C4)
Morgan Newberry (C5)
Daphne Schrager (C2)
Katie Toft (C1)

Men

Archie Atkinson (C4)
Will Bjergfelt (C5)
Jody Cundy (C4)
Fin Graham (C3)
Blaine Hunt (C5)
Matt Robertson (C2)
Ryan Taylor (C2)
Jaco Van Gass (C3)

Tandems

James Ball (piloted by Steffan Lloyd)
Steve Bate (piloted by Chris Latham)
Lora Fachie (piloted by Corrine Hall)
Neil Fachie (piloted by Matt Rotherham)
Lizzi Jordan (piloted by Danni Khan)
Chris McDonald (piloted by Adam Duggleby)
Sophie Unwin (piloted by Jenny Holl)