Brian Cookson declares mixed men and women track event test “a huge success”

An international test event involving both men and women has been completed at the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland. The new sprint formula was tested on Friday and UCI president Brian Cookson has declared it ‘a huge success’.

The UCI website reports that four Under-23 international teams from France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain were invited to try out the new event alongside the Centre’s BMX trainees, travelling to the World Cycling Centre specifically to take part.

Timed qualification rounds saw the best teams move through to semi-finals. These races and the final were then completed in similar fashion to the traditional team sprint with the two teams starting off on opposite sides of the track. The races lasted four laps with each rider leading for one lap only. There were no restrictions on the order in which the riders led.

Speaking before the test event, Cookson had said that one of the main challenges would be to manage differences in performance between the genders.

“The coaches and sports scientists tell me that men are between 10 and 15 per cent stronger and faster in any given cycling event so we have to find ways of managing that difference if men and women will be competing in the same event at the same time.”

As it turned out, the victory margins were very slim with just two tenths of a second separating Italy in first from Great Britain in third. France then lost the final by just one hundredth of a second.

Italy’s Manuel Gambuti led the third lap for his team, following the two female riders. He described the event as ‘a new possibility’ and ‘really good fun’. Marie Dufour, the second athlete to lead the French team, said: “It is an interesting concept that demonstrates the form of the nation as a whole, rather than just the women or just the men.”

Britain’s Monica Dew said that although she knew her male team-mates well, it was the first time she had raced with them. She too agreed that the event was a success, saying: “It worked incredibly well.”

The trial was run in response to a request from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is pushing for more gender equality from international federations. IOC president, Thomas Bach, is keen to see mixed male and female events form part of the Tokyo 2020 Games with this test event a major step towards delivering that.