Felicity Wilson-Haffenden wins 2026 Women’s U23 World Championships time trial in Montréal

Felicity Wilson-Haffenden won the women’s under-23 individual time trial world title in Montréal, producing a dominant middle section to beat Nienke Vinke by 28 seconds over the 20.3km course.

The Australian had been just 0.19 seconds behind Vinke at the opening checkpoint but transformed the race before the second split, where she led the Dutch rider by almost 26 seconds. Wilson-Haffenden completed the course in 27:40.72 and continued to extend her advantage slightly on the run to Parc Jeanne-Mance.

Luca Vierstraete took bronze for Belgium after a strong second half of the race, finishing 45.07 seconds behind the winner and only 0.89 seconds ahead of 2025 silver medallist Viktória Chladoňová. Mackenzie Coupland was fifth, giving Australia two riders inside the top five.

How it unfolded

The women’s under-23 field faced a considerably shorter test than the elite riders had tackled a day earlier. The 20.3km Montréal course contained 145 metres of elevation and rewarded riders capable of settling quickly into a high pace rather than managing the longer effort required over Sunday’s 39.2km elite route.

A new champion was guaranteed after Zoe Bäckstedt chose to step into the elite category rather than defend the under-23 title she had won in Kigali. That left several riders from the 2025 top 10 with an opportunity to move onto the podium, including Chladoňová, Wilson-Haffenden, Justyna Czapla, Tabea Huys and Ava Holmgren.

The start order placed most of the expected contenders towards the end of the field, but Vinke ensured they already had a demanding benchmark to chase.

Vinke sets the early standard

Vinke produced the fastest opening section of the entire race, reaching the first intermediate checkpoint in 7:51.20.

Her advantage over Wilson-Haffenden was almost nonexistent at that stage. The Australian was only 0.19 seconds slower, while Chladoňová was third at 4.20 seconds and Wilma Aintila fourth at 5.98 seconds.

Holmgren was another rider still firmly in contention, passing the opening checkpoint 6.21 seconds behind Vinke. Febe Jooris followed at 7.85 seconds, while Coupland was seventh at 12.80 seconds.

Vierstraete had more work to do. The Belgian was only 10th at that stage, already 16.24 seconds behind the leader, leaving her outside the provisional medal positions.

Wilson-Haffenden decides the race through the middle section

The second part of the course completely changed the championship.

Wilson-Haffenden went from two tenths of a second behind Vinke to 25.78 seconds ahead by the second intermediate checkpoint. Her time of 18:49.31 was comfortably the fastest through that section and created a gap none of her rivals could recover.

It was a particularly impressive response given the form she had already shown in Canada. Wilson-Haffenden arrived in Montréal after finishing second to Marlen Reusser at the Chrono Féminin de Gatineau and had spent the season racing as the Australian elite time trial champion despite still being eligible for the under-23 category.

Vinke remained comfortably in the silver medal position, but the battle for bronze was becoming much tighter.

Vierstraete had moved from 10th to third, 36.91 seconds behind Wilson-Haffenden. Coupland was another three seconds back in fourth, while Chladoňová had slipped to fifth at 44.25 seconds.

Less than eight seconds covered Vierstraete, Coupland and Chladoňová heading into the final part of the race.

Vierstraete takes bronze by less than a second

Wilson-Haffenden had already done the decisive damage. She lost none of her advantage through the closing kilometres and stopped the clock at 27:40.72.

Vinke finished 28.47 seconds behind to secure silver. The Dutch rider had been the only competitor to match Wilson-Haffenden through the opening kilometres, but the difference created through the middle of the course proved too large to recover.

The fight for the final medal went almost to the hundredth of a second.

Vierstraete completed her recovery from 10th at the first checkpoint to finish third at 45.07 seconds. Chladoňová reached the line only 0.89 seconds slower, leaving the Slovakian fourth after taking silver behind Bäckstedt in Kigali a year earlier.

Coupland was also within two seconds of the bronze medal, finishing fifth at 46.99 seconds. Holmgren gave the home crowd sixth place at 1:01.28, ahead of Jooris, Oda Aune Gissinger, Megan Arens and Czapla.

Wilson-Haffenden turns fourth in Kigali into gold in Montréal

The result completed a clear step forward for Wilson-Haffenden after she finished fourth in the inaugural standalone women’s under-23 World Championships time trial in Kigali.

She had been more than two minutes behind Bäckstedt on the climbing-heavy Rwandan course and narrowly missed the podium. Twelve months later, on a much faster Montréal route, the Australian arrived as one of the strongest specialists in the field and converted that status into the rainbow jersey.

The manner of the victory was also revealing. Wilson-Haffenden did not win by going significantly harder than everybody else from the start. Vinke was marginally faster through the opening section, but the Australian maintained her speed as the race developed and created virtually her entire winning margin before the second checkpoint.

By the finish, the gap to Vinke was 28.47 seconds, with the rest of the field more than 45 seconds behind. After winning Australia’s elite title in January and testing herself against Reusser in Gatineau, Wilson-Haffenden leaves Montréal with the under-23 rainbow jersey.

Women’s U23 World Championships time trial 2026 result

Main photo credit: UCI