{"id":435448,"date":"2026-02-20T04:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/435448\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:13:14","slug":"im-so-surprised-i-cant-believe-it-charlie-tanfield-downs-world-champion-to-win-individual-pursuit-title-at-british-track-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/435448\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m so surprised, I can’t believe it’ \u2013 Charlie Tanfield downs world champion to win individual pursuit title at British Track Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a \u201chuge\u201d PB and career-best power numbers for Charlie Tanfield<\/a> to beat the world champion to the individual pursuit title at the British National Track Championships<\/a> on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old knocked 1.7 seconds off his personal best when he qualified top with a 4:02.822 inside the Manchester Velodrome. He then carried his form into the final, leading against the national record holder Josh Charlton<\/a> for more than three quarters of the 4km event, and beating him by over four seconds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ahead of the race, photographers flocked to Charlton to capture his first outing in the rainbow bands he won last October. They then found themselves dashing across the track centre to shoot Tanfield, the against-the-odds winner, as he left the boards smiling, applauded by the crowds.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t race against a better rider than the world champion,\u201d Tanfield told Cycling Weekly afterwards. \u201cI just wanted to come here and do a good ride. I\u2019m so surprised, so surprised. I can\u2019t believe it, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the two rides, Tanfield, a previous IP champion in 2018 and 2023, revealed he did \u201cthe best power numbers I\u2019ve ever done\u201d. His latest victory came six months after he attempted the Hour Record<\/a>, but fell short, still setting the seventh furthest distance of all time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps with your positioning,\u201d he said of his Hour Record training, \u201cand I feel more robust in my second ride and in the back-end of rides. I\u2019m not dropping off as much anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was sort of stagnating a bit with my training, and after my Hour, I kind of switched things up, and I\u2019m responding quite well to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Seventeen-year-old Leon Atkins<\/a> won the bronze medal in the event. The teenager will join Lidl-Trek<\/a>\u2019s academy squad next year.<\/p>\n

Morris defends scratch title<\/p>\n

\n

\"Anna\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Olly Hassell\/SWPix)<\/p>\n

Earlier in the evening, the newly crowned European omnium champion Anna Morris<\/a> defended her national title in the scratch race, trouncing the field with a final-lap dash.<\/p>\n

The first attacks came with six laps to go in the 40-lap event, when Team GB<\/a>\u2019s Josie Knight peeled off the front of the bunch. Morris reacted fastest to close the move down, and did so again four laps later when Jenny Holl and Phoebe Taylor catapulted to the front with two laps remaining.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to jump on them, did what I could to the line, and luckily that was enough,\u201d Morris, a now six-time national track champion, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the most chaotic last six laps I think I\u2019ve raced,\u201d she added. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had a scratch race like it, and that\u2019s part of the fun of racing a scratch race: everyone goes in with different tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holl and Taylor held the momentum of their attack to place second and third.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Archie\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Olly Hassell\/SWPix)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on day one of the British Track Championships, para-cyclist Archie Atkinson won the first national title of the event, sprinting to victory in the rainbow bands in the C4-5 scratch race.<\/p>\n

There were also new national honours for Crystal Lane-Wright in the women\u2019s C5 elimination race, Elisabeth Simpson in the women’s C2 elimination race, Fin Graham in the men’s C1-3 scratch race, and the tandem mixed sprint team named \u2018Jean Claude Tan Damme\u2019: Sophie Unwin, Jenny Holl, James Ball and Matt Rotherham.<\/p>\n

The four-day championships continue on Friday, when double European champion Matthew Richardson<\/a> will be in action in the sprint. Richardson qualified first in the event on Thursday, as he began his defence of the three titles he won last year.<\/p>\n

Fans can stream all the action for free on British Cycling’s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explore More<\/p>\n


\nTrack cycling
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took a \u201chuge\u201d PB and career-best power numbers for Charlie Tanfield to beat the world champion to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-435448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}