{"id":900201,"date":"2026-09-21T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900201\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:08:11","slug":"road-world-championships-felicity-wilson-haffenden-back-in-rainbows-with-fantastically-strong-womens-under-23-time-trial-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900201\/","title":{"rendered":"Road World Championships: Felicity Wilson-Haffenden back in rainbows with fantastically strong women’s under-23 time trial ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Felicity Wilson-Haffenden<\/a> (Australia) raced to the under-23 women’s world time trial title on Montreal on Monday afternoon, blitzing the 20.3km course at an average speed of 44kph.<\/p>\n

The Australian, already her nation’s elite time trial champion and a former junior world champion, beat Nienke Vinke <\/a>(Netherlands) to the top of the leaderboard by 28 seconds, having raced a negative split to speed up as her rider progressed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vinke had sat in the hot seat as provisional leader for almost an hour before Wilson-Haffenden unseated her, going second at the first checkpoint and then flying through the second to establish her dominance.<\/p>\n

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In the end, Wilson-Haffenden’s time of 27:40 was the only sub-28-minute time of the day, well up on Vinke’s 28:09, and further clear of third-placed finisher, Luca Vierstraete (Belgium), who took home the bronze medal with a time of 28:25.<\/p>\n

There would be no home joy for Canada as Ava Holmgren ending the day as the best of their two entrants. She ended up in sixth place with a time of 28:42.<\/p>\n

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Racing got underway with Benin’s Georgette Vignonfodo, the first of 52 riders to tackle the 20.3km course in Montreal. The early nations \u2013 Benin, plus the likes of Guatemala, China, and Indonesia \u2013 got their time in the spotlight early on.<\/p>\n

Haixin Dong (China) was the quickest of the early starters, with her time of 31:22 beating those around her, including Vignonfodo and Camilee Chasteau de Balyon (Mauritius), by over 40 seconds.<\/p>\n

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That time was quickly bested by riders from bigger cycling nations, however. Sidney Swierenga (Canada) and Febe Jooris<\/a> (Belgium) were among the first 15 riders. Swierenga was the first rider to the finish under 30 minutes, logging a 29:17 to top the leaderboards before Jooris swept through 29 seconds to the good to dethrone the home racer.<\/p>\n

Out on course, 20th starter Nienke Vinke (Netherlands) was making a hot start as the first rider to hit the first checkpoint in under eight minutes. The 22-year-old was quickest at the second check, too, and duly crossed the line with a time of 28:09 to snatch provisional first from Jooris by 39 seconds.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Nienke\n<\/p>\n

Vinke on her way to second place (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The next batch of riders out on course wouldn’t trouble Vinke’s time, though Wilma Antila (Finland) was going well \u2013 second at the first check \u2013 before a crash cost her momentum and end up in third place with a 29:10.<\/p>\n

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Mackenzie Coupland<\/a> (Australia), the 30th rider off, was also speeding along. She improved from fourth to second between the first and second checkpoints, but still Vinke proved immovable at the top of the standings, 18 seconds clear.<\/p>\n

Even as the later runners \u2013 including Luca Vierstraete (Belgium), Amandine Muller (France), and Paula Ostiz (Spain) \u2013 went out, none could lay a glove on Vinke, all losing over 10 seconds at the first checkpoint. Vierstraete improved to second place, however, at 11 seconds off Vinke, at the second check.<\/p>\n

Home favourite Ava Holmgren (Canada), the 48th rider to start, clocked a time just six second off Vinke at the first checkpoint, while Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Vikt\u00f3ria Chlada\u0148ov\u00e1 (Slovakia) beat her time, with Wilson-Haffenden passing through just tenths of a second off Vinke.<\/p>\n

Vinke’s time survived Vierstrate’s assault, with the Belgian concluding her run at a deficit of 16 seconds. After her, it looked to be up to Holmgren, Wilson-Haffenden, and Chlada\u0148ov\u00e1 if anyone were to unseat the world champion-elect.<\/p>\n

The Australian looked best placed to do so at the second checkpoint, storming through 26 seconds up on Vinke as Holmgren and Chlada\u0148ov\u00e1 lost ground. Holmgren would end her run 32 seconds down and already out of the medal positions, but Wilson-Haffenden continued to fly, ending up as the only rider to best Vinke’s time.<\/p>\n

All that was left then was for Chlada\u0148ov\u00e1 to finish off the day’s action, the Slovakian desperately close to a medal as she finished within a second of Vierstraete’s third place.<\/p>\n

Results<\/p>\n

Swipe to scroll horizontally<\/p>\n

Position<\/p>\n

Rider (Country) Team<\/p>\n

Time Gap<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Aus)<\/p>\n

0:27:40<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Nienke Vinke (Ned)<\/p>\n

+0:00:29<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Luca Vierstraete (Bel)<\/p>\n

+0:00:45<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Vikt\u00f3ria Chlado\u0148ov\u00e1 (Svk)<\/p>\n

+0:00:46<\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Coupland (Aus)<\/p>\n

+0:00:47<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Ava Holmgren (Can)<\/p>\n

+0:01:02<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Febe Jooris (Bel)<\/p>\n

+0:01:08<\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Oda Aune Gissinger (Nor)<\/p>\n

+0:01:09<\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Megan Arens (Ned)<\/p>\n

+0:01:11<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

Justyna Czapla (Ger)<\/p>\n

+0:01:12<\/p>\n

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