The track cycling world championships were first held in Chicago in 1893. For 133 years, the event never came to China. This month it did. From October 14 to 18, riders raced at the Shanghai Velodrome on Chongming Island, the first time this elite worlds had been staged on the Chinese mainland.
Track cycling is indoor racing on a short, banked oval. The Shanghai track is 250 meters around, built of wood, with turns that rise as steep as 45 degrees. About 400 athletes from about 45 countries came for 22 world titles. Team sprint, the night's headline, is a short race for three riders.
On opening night, China's women won that race. Jiang Yulu, Tong Mengqi, and Yuan Liying finished in 45.578 seconds, 0.355 seconds ahead of Great Britain. It was China's first world title in the event since 2015. Later the same night, Jin Zhiheng, Li Zhiwei, and Liu Qi took bronze in the men's team sprint, in 42.389 seconds, after a race against Japan. It was the Chinese men's first world-championship medal in the event.
The championships closed on October 18. Yuan added an individual sprint gold. China left with two golds and one bronze, its best result at a single track worlds.
The numbers are new. The race is old. A championship that began in the nineteenth century finally had a Chinese address, and the home riders used the first night to prove they belonged on it.