'I never expected it would be possible to do a sub-4:20' – Josie Knight breaks individual pursuit world record on way to European title

Great Britain’s Josie Knight claimed her second world record of the week on Wednesday en route to victory in the individual pursuit at the UEC European Track Championships.

The 28-year-old, who was also part of the world-record-breaking British team pursuit squad on Monday, took a staggering 4.181 seconds off the individual benchmark in qualifying, becoming the first woman in history to go below 4:20 with her time of 4:19.461.

Knight then went on to beat the Netherlands’ Mischa Bredewold in the gold medal final on Wednesday evening.

“I thought it was possible to maybe break the world record, but I never expected it would be possible to do a sub-4:20, so I’m very happy,” Knight said afterwards.

The record previously belonged to Italian Vittoria Bussi, who went 4:23.624 at a specially organised event in Aguascalientes, Mexico, last year. The women’s individual pursuit world record was broken nine times in 2025 after the UCI increased the event distance from 3km to 4km.

“I raced the 4km distance for the first time at the World Championships and I didn’t pace it very well and I wasn’t very happy,” Knight said. “From that moment, I was fully focused on this race here in Konya today, so I’m really happy to have done a good performance.”

Knight's GB team-mate Millie Couzens won the bronze medal.

Richardson topples Lavreysen

Later in the evening at the competition in Turkey, British sprinter Matthew Richardson pulled off a rare and convincing sprint victory over 20-time world champion Harrie Lavreysen.

In the final, the Dutchman won the first match-up of a best of three, before Richardson overhauled him, sealing the decider by more than a bike length. The moment brought Richardson’s first European title since he swapped nationality from Australia in 2024, and Lavreysen’s first individual sprint defeat at a major championships since 2019.

“It was a really hard fought battle,” Richardson said afterwards. “I’ve been working and trying to beat Harrie for many, many years, and always fell a little bit short, so it’s really satisfying to finally get on that top step.

“Hopefully it was an exciting final for the people watching at home. I certainly enjoyed myself.”

Elsewhere on day four of the European Championships, Mathilde Gros (France) won the women’s kilometre time trial, Iúri Leitão (Portugal) claimed victory in the men’s omnium, and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) won the women’s points race.

Great Britain head into Thursday’s final day as the runaway leaders in the medal standings with 11 medals, of which six gold. The next best nation, Belgium, has three golds.