Worlds: Felicity Wilson-Haffenden wins U-23 TT

Felicity Wilson-Haffenden has claimed Australia’s first win of the 2026 world championships in Montreal, claiming gold in the under-23 time trial. The 21-year-old covered the 20.3km course in 27:41.

Tasmanian Felicity Wilson-Haffenden has become the latest Australian to win a time trial world championship in the under-23 category, and the first Australian female to claim the rainbow jersey in what is a relatively new event on the UCI’s program.

Introduced for the 2022 worlds in Wollongong, when under-23 women competed in the same race as the elite riders – with medals awarded for each category. That format remained in place until last year when Zoe Backstedt from Wales finished fastest on the challenging circuit in Kigali. Wilson-Haffenden finished in fourth place at 2:21.

This year Backstedt ‘graduated’ to the elite ranks and finished second to Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) who successfully defended her title from 2025 on Sunday, the first day of competition in Canada. Monday’s program featured the under-23 TTs for women and men and Wilson-Haffenden, despite concerns about her typical pacing strategy, managed her effort well to finish the 20.3km race at an average speed of 44.005km/h.

Wilson-Haffenden is the first Australian woman to win a gold medal in the under-23 category at the road cycling worlds, but her talents have been on display at the highest level for a few years already. In 2023 she burst onto the international scene with a gold medal in the juniors (under-19) category when the world championships were held in Glasgow. The win in Scotland meant she matched the efforts Josie Tomic, Jess Allen, and Macey Stewart, winners of the U19 TT world title in Aguascalientes (2007), Copenhagen (2011), and Ponferada (2014), respectively.

The only other Australian woman to win a road cycling world title is the reigning Olympic champion, Grace Brown, who claimed the elite TT rainbow jersey in 2024 only a few months before retiring from racing.

The gold medal ride in Montreal on Monday is actually the third time Wilson-Haffenden has appeared on the top step of the world championship podium as she was also part of the victorious Australian Mixed Relay team at the worlds in Rwanda in 2025. Joining her for that winning effort 12 months ago were Brodie Chapman, Amanda Spratt, Luke Plapp, Michael Matthews, and Jay Vine.

– Click here for results from the U23 TTs of the 2026 world championships –

Wilson-Haffenden’s evolution continues

“To be honest, I did explode myself a little bit on the way out,” said the 21-year-old from Hobart in a media release from AusCycling. “The tailwind gets you so excited… then you turn and realise you still have legs and they do actually go lactic.

“I really just tried to give everything but not quite [go] over the limit until I hit that corner. And then I saw the rainbows at the top and I went as hard as I could.”

While the win in Glasgow was something of a surprise, even for Felicity herself, as she had only begun racing a year before claiming the junior world title. Since then she has joined the WorldTour peloton as part of the Lidl-Trek team since 2024. She’s the current elite women’s TT national champion after beating Chapman by four seconds in the 29.3km clash in Perth this January.

“We all know I came to cycling pretty late,” said Wilson-Haffenden after her win in Montreal. “[In] Glasgow, when I won [the junior TT], I was still one year into cycling. To sit here now, three years later with three world titles… I never would have believed it.

“This year is really the first time I’ve experienced being the favourite for something. It was a lot of pressure – both internally and externally – and to actually put it all together and execute a ride [is something] I can be really proud of.”

U23 Men’s TT

Australian rouleur Cameron Rogers had a mishap in the under‑23 TT on Monday. A mechanical problem cost him two minutes and wiped out any hope of a medal.

At the worlds for the first time since 2022, when he was a junior, Rogers saw his medal hopes vanish just before the first intermediate check, with 21km still to race on the 31km course.

It all started with a dropped chain. With no spare time‑trial bike, the Netcompany-INEOS Racing Academy rider had to rely on the Australian team’s mechanic, who took a minute to put the chain back on. But his derailleur also had an issue, as the gears would no longer shift. Rogers and his mechanic needed a further 1:15 and three attempts at resetting the chain before he could set off again.

Having been one of the outsiders for the podium, the winner of the under‑23 Gent‑Wevelgem last spring, who has won two prologues this season, finished 39th, 3:24 down on the new world champion, Dutchman Ryan Gal.

The best of the Australian U23 men in Montreal was Will Holmes who finished 20th, 1:57 behind Gal. Thomas Waites was the other Aussie starter in the TT on Monday, he finished 34th.

While Felicity Wilson-Haffenden is the first Australian female to win the U23 TT at the worlds, the equivalent category for men has been a regular hunting ground for Aussie riders… with plenty of success achieved over the years. Cameron Rogers’ uncle, Michael, won silver in Verona in 1999 and bronze in Plouay in 2000. And then came a succession of medal-winning performances:

• Jack Bobridge: 1st in Mendrisio 2009
• Luke Durbridge: 2nd in Geelong 2010 and 1st in Copenhagen 2011
• Rohan Dennis: 2nd in Valkenburg 2012
• Damien Howson: 3rd in 2012 and 1st in Florence 2013
• Campbell Flakemore: 1st in Ponferrada 2014
• Miles Scotson: 3rd in Doha 2016
• Luke Plapp: 2nd in Leuven 2021
• Hamish McKenzie: 3rd in Wollongong 2022