Denmark smashes world record at Track World Championships in Berlin

12th Aug 2019

The Danish Men’s Team Pursuit team have broken the world record for the third time in two days, claiming victory atop the Argon 18 Electron Pro at the Track World Championships in Berlin on Thursday.

The triumphant Danes broke Australia’s record in qualifying on Wednesday, then broke that record again in the first round. However, their early record-breaking time proved to be little more than a warm up, with the quartet of Lasse Norman Hansen, Julius Johansen, Frederik Rodenberg Madsen and Rasmus Pedersen lowering the record by another 1.5 seconds in the final with a time of 3:44.672 – and making history with the first ever sub 3:45 time.

When asked how the Argon 18 Electron Pro rides in testing, Norman Hansen said: “After only two laps on the test bike, I knew that this was the best track bike I had ever ridden.” The Danish team are also making use of the watt savings offered by CeramicSpeed, with their bikes all featuring CeramicSpeed upgraded bearings and Racing UFO Chains

The Electron Pro is also the bike of choice for the Australian track team, who released their brand new custom colourway just days before the Track Worlds kicked off on Wednesday.

The astonishingly fast time – which saw the Danes cover the 4 kilometres at an average speed of 64.093 km/h – is a momentous feat not only for the Danish track team, but track cycling more broadly. Speaking to Cycling News, New Zealand silver medallist Aaron Gate said “they have pushed the bar through the roof”.

The Australian team didn’t leave without success as well. Nathan Hart, Matthew Richardson and Thomas Cornish claimed bronze in the team sprint, Australian men’s highest finish at a World Championships in eight years. Incumbent champions Stephanie Morton and Kaarle McCulloch also overcame recent injury setbacks to claim the silver medal in the team sprint.