Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) earned her seventeenth career world championship medal on the closing day of the 2022 UCI Track World Championships, placing third in the Women’s Points Race. Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif.; L39ion of Los Angeles) took on the Men’s Elimination where he placed twelfth. The duo of Eddy Huntsman (Newport Beach, Calif.; ButcherBox Pro Cycling) and Peter Moore (Saint Paul, Minn.; Giant Dijon Track Team) partnered up to sling each other around the track in the Men’s and Madison, and Kayla Hankins (Phoenix, Ariz.) toed the line for the Women’s Keirin.
Lining up for the 100-lap Points Race, the final individual event for women, Valente had a tough race ahead of her. Every rider saw this event as their final chance at earning a medal, so the race was fast from the gun. Understanding where her competitors were at, Valente scored points early and often in the race, placing in the first two sprints. At the midway point in the race, the Danish rider Julie Leth attacked the field, pulling away. Riders from Mexico, Italy, the Netherlands, and Great Britain responded, and the group of five pulled away. Valente and Belgian rider Lotte Kopecky both began to chase, bridging to the front group in under two laps. Leth broke away from this group and took the lap before the sprint at 40 laps remaining. Valente and her group waited until the sprint and then made their move to take a lap.
With points so close over the top 7 riders, less than 10 points separated first from seventh, and the race became a game of cat and mouse at speed. With six kilometers left in the race, Leth and Daniek Hengeveld (NED) attacked again, quickly gaining half a lap on the field. The race leaders saw this threat and responded, with Nevah Evans (GBR), Valente, Kopecky, Silvia Zanardi (ITA), and more all chasing the group, separating themselves from the field. Leth took the sprint at ten laps remaining and then took the lap. Evans, Valente, and Kopecky all realized their podium hopes were in danger if they did not take a lap and with three to go, connected. In the end, Evans won the event, with Valente just behind in third.
"That race was tough. It's the end of the week and everyone is trying for one last chance at the podium", said Valente about the race. When asked about the most challenging part of the race, she said, "Keeping an eye on Silvia and Lotte near the end was hard, because they're both incredibly strong. The point spread was incredibly tight for most of the race, with 10 points separating first to ninth, I think. I'm happy to end this event with another medal."
1. Nevah Evans (GBR) – 60 pts.
2. Julie Leth (DEN) – 53 pts.
3. Jennifer Valente (USA) – 51 pts.
In his final 2022 UCI Track World Championships event, Hoover lined up for the Men’s Elimination race. The tension was high in the field, causing the race to be fraught with crashes. Both crashes happened early in the race, within the first ten laps. Hoover had solid positioning at each start or restart. After the eleventh elimination, the field swelled, giving Hoover no place to hide, forcing him to battle at the back to avoid elimination. Unfortunately, he lost the battle and placed twelfth.
1. Elia Viviani (ITA)
2. Corbin Strong (NZL)
3. Ethan Vernon (GBR)
12. Gavin Hoover (USA)
In their first pairing together, Huntsman and Moore tackled the 200-lap Men’s Madison. The duo had the cards stacked against them as the youngest team on the track. The French team drove the pace hard from the gun, who earned points in 60% of the sprints. Team USA was able to keep up with the pace for the first half of the race, but as it intensified, they fell to the rear. In the end, the team placed fourteenth, with the French winning the event.
1. Team FRA – 65 pts
2. Team GBR – 47 pts
3. Team BEL – 43 pts
14. Team USA – -40 pts
Hankins represented the U.S. in the final sprint event of the competition, the Women’s Keirin. Starting in the fourth out of five heats, she had tough competition in her first World Championship Keirin, going up against Olympic gold medallist in the Sprint Kelsey Mitchell (CAN) and Olympic silver medallist in the Keirin Ellesse Andrews (NZL). Hankins was doing well to roll with the speed of the race, but as the group was about to enter into turn three for the final time, Hankins crossed wheels with another rider and crashed. She sustained some contusions on her left side and did not continue into the repechage round due to a possible head injury.
1. Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER)
2. Mina Sato (JPN)
3. Steffie van der Pleet (NED)
27. Kayla Hankins (USA)
