The track time trial is a

track cycling Track cycling is a Cycle sport, bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its i ...

event where

cyclists Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for pur ...

compete individually against the clock to record the fastest time over the specified distance from a standing start.

Time trial bikes

Track time trial bikes differ from normal track bikes in two major ways; firstly they have disc or 3–5 spoked wheels, and secondly they often use aero-bars to allow the rider to adopt a more aerodynamic riding position. The frames are often more streamlined to reduce air resistance.

Men – 1000 m time trial

At the

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

, the distance for senior men is 1000 m, hence the event's alternative name, the 'Kilo', short for kilometre. Junior men also race 1000 m. Being such a short, high-intensity event, the kilo is popular with riders who specialise in the

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

. The Kilo time trial was removed from the Olympics programme after 2004 to make way for

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

racing. This led to a number of Kilo riders, most notably

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy (born 23 March 1976) is a former Track cycling, track cyclist and racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympics, Great Britain at the Olympic Games, Olympic and World Championships and Scot ...

, to begin focusing on other sprint events. This event is a race against the clock from a standing start over 1000 m. Most indoor tracks are 250 m in length, so a kilo is usually held over four laps. Other common track lengths are 167 m (six laps), 333 m (three laps) or 400 m (2.5 laps). Riders will keep to the black line at the bottom of the track to ensure they have to cover the least distance over the 1000 m. Riders usually only get one attempt to set a time, and the winner of the event is simply the rider to post the quickest time. A fast time at the elite level is around 1 minute 5 seconds. The world record is 55.433 seconds (64.943 km/h), set by

Jeffrey Hoogland Jeffrey Hoogland (born 16 March 1993) is a Dutch track cyclist. He represented his nation in eleven editions of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships (since 2013). At the 2015 UEC European Track Championships, he collected a total of three g ...

in 2023 at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Women – 500 m time trial

The Women's version of the event is held over 500 m. Other than the race distance this is the same as the men's Kilo event, with the fastest rider over the distance declared the winner. This event was also removed from the Olympic programme after 2004 to make way for

. The world record is held by Russian rider

Anastasia Voynova Anastasia Sergeyevna Voynova ( rus, Анастасия Сергеевна Войнова, , ɐnəstɐˈsʲijə ˈvojnəvə; born 5 February 1993) is a Russian professional Track cycling, track cyclist. She won the bronze medal in the 2014 UCI Tr ...

; set on 17 October 2015 in

Grenchen Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...

, Switzerland during the European championships with 32.794 seconds (54.888 km/h).

Flying 200 m time trial

The flying 200 m time trial (so-called because riders have a flying start, as opposed to the standing start in the kilo/500 m) is rarely held on its own. It is more commonly used as the qualifying event for the

competition, or as part of an

Omnium An omnium (from Latin ''omnium'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that f ...

competition.

Velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

s have a line painted across the track at 200 m before the finish line, for this purpose. Therefore, the size the track will determine where the 200-meter line is (for 250 m tracks, it is about two-thirds of the way through the first bend; for 200-meter tracks, it is the finish line; for 400-meter tracks, it is the start line in the back straight). The clock will start as they cross this line and stop when they reach the finish line. Depending on the size of the track, riders have between one and three laps to build up speed before the clock starts. They will ride around the very top of the track as they near the start line, then drop down to the bottom to gain as much speed as possible from rolling down the steep inclined banking. The Flying 200 m is ridden on a standard track bike (drop handlebars, spoked front wheel) when it is part of the Sprint competition, and often during the Omnium as well so riders need have only one bike. Disc front wheel is permitted for sprint qualification round. UCI rules and regulations Article 1.3.018 A fast time at the elite level is just above 10 seconds for men, 11 seconds for women. The world record of 9.100 seconds was set by

Nicholas Paul Nicholas Paul (born 23 September 1998) is a Trinidadian track cyclist, who specializes in sprinting events. He competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Men's keirin on 11 August 2024. Career On 6 September 2019, Paul set a flying 200m world ...

of Trinidad and Tobago at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia on September 6, 2019. The Olympic Record of 9.551 seconds was set by

Jason Kenny Sir Jason Francis Kenny (born 23 March 1988) is a British former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the winner of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) by a British athlete. Kenny's seven Olympic ...

of Great Britain at the Rio 2016 Olympics, beating his own Olympic Record of 9.713 seconds set at the 2012 London Olympics.

References

{{Track cycling Events in track cycling

Time trial bikes

Men – 1000 m time trial

Women – 500 m time trial

Flying 200 m time trial

See also

References