Britain's Josh Charlton set a world record for the men's individual pursuit during qualifying at the Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark on Friday.
Charlton finished in a time of three minutes 59.304 seconds, beating the previous mark of 3:59.636, set by Italian Filippo Ganna at the world championships in 2022 when winning his sixth gold medal in the 4km event.
The 21-year-old Charlton is only the third man to break the four minute mark, and will battle with Italy's Jonathan Milan for the gold medal later on Friday.
JOSH CHARLTON what have you done 🤯
— Team GB (@TeamGB) October 18, 2024
The debutant just obliterated the men's indvidual pursuit world record in a new time of 3:59.304 🚴
And it was only qualifying!#Ballerup2024 | @BritishCycling pic.twitter.com/0wnKG14ow4
Milan rode a personal best of 4:00.296 to qualify for the gold-medal race, but now faces a tough task to finally take first prize having won two silvers and one bronze at the last three world championships.
Charlton already has a silver medal from the Men's Team Pursuit when Britain finished second to Denmark on Thursday, and one of his teammates, Charlie Tanfield, will take on fellow-Briton Daniel Bigham in the race for the bronze medal.