2024 World Cycling Championships: Brown new time trial world champion - Niedermaier wins U23 gold
Thomas Huber
· 22.09.2024
Grace Brown's winning streak continues at the 2024 World Cycling Championships in Zurich. Having already won the gold medal in the individual time trial at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the Australian has now also triumphed as time trial world champion. This shows Brown at the peak of her career in her last season before retiring. She won the gold medal on the 29.9 kilometre course to Zurich with an average speed of 45.687 km/h and a time of 39:16.04 minutes. Behind the Australian, Demi Vollering (Netherlands) had to settle for second place, with Chloe Dygert (USA) taking bronze.
2024 World Cycling Championships: Niedermaier becomes U23 World Champion
Antonia Niedermaier provided the biggest surprise of the race. The 21-year-old German repeated her U23 World Championship title from last year and was completely convincing. She easily kept up with the world's best and was even in bronze place in both split times. In the end, Niedermaier was less than ten seconds behind Dygert to finish on the podium. Antonia Niedermaier finished a strong fourth.
The last few months have felt like a dream. The Olympic Games have given me a lot of self-confidence, so I was able to go full throttle today. - World champion Grace Brown
World Cycling Championships 2024 - Results: the top 10 of the women's individual time trial
- Grace Brown (Australia) 39:16.04
- Demi Vollering (Netherlands) +16.79
- Chloe Dygert (USA) +56.42
- Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) +1:05.10
- Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) +1:39.44
- Christina Schweinberger (Austria) +1:44.14
- Anna Henderson (Great Britain) +1:44.39
- Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) +1:47.38
- Juliette Labous (France) +1:51.68
- Amber Leone Neben (USA) +2:20.33
How the women's individual time trial went at the 2024 World Cycling Championships
Petya Minkova from Bulgaria was the first rider to set off on the almost 30-kilometre route between Gossau and Zurich shortly before 12 noon. The route was divided into two halves: The first part was hilly, the second flat.
Many management changes
At the start, no rider was able to clearly pull away, with numerous lead changes at the finish. Eugenia Bujak (Slovenia), Teniel Campbell (Trinidad & Tobago) and Mie Björndal Ottestad (Norway), among others, were in the hot seat at times, but then no longer played a role in the decision as the race progressed. The Norwegian was the first skier to pull away from the rest. She put in a good performance with a time of 42:02 minutes.
Meanwhile, the first big names were on the road: Brodie Chapman (Australia) and Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) in particular performed well and took the lead. Van Dijk finished almost a minute faster than the Norwegian Ottestad.
Favourites take to the track
The big favourites were now also on the course. After Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Demi Vollering (Netherlands) had started, the two top pre-race favourites also took to the course: Olympic champion Grace Brown (Australia) and the (still) reigning world champion Chloe Dygert (USA).
Niedermaier surprises
When all the favourites had passed the first split time, a big surprise seemed to be in the offing: Brown had the best time there ahead of Demi Vollering, with the young German Antonia Niedermaier in third at this point. Kopecky and Dygert, on the other hand, were behind the German.
When Niedermaier crossed the finish line with a time of 40:21 minutes and an average speed of 44.458 km/h, it was clear: the German is once again U23 World Champion and will duel with Chloe Dygert for third place in the elite race. Grace Brown and Demi Vollering, who were battling for the world title, were too far behind.
Thrilling decisions for the podium places
Vollering then clearly beat Niedermaier's time - but her joy was short-lived. Grace Brown fired up the turbo in the final section, overtaking the Dutchwoman and snatching the 2024 World Championship title. Chloe Dygert also put in a strong performance on the final, flatter section and snatched third place from Niedermaier.
