Great Britain's Katy Marchant, Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell celebrate with their gold medals won in the Women's Team Sprint finals. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Sophie Capewell smashes world record to win gold
An incredible ride from cyclist Sophie Capewell helped Great Britain's Women’s Team Sprint break the world record to win a glorious gold in Paris.
The current Loughborough University student and her team-mates Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant crossed the line in 45.186 seconds to smash the world record – for an incredible third time in the session.
In a sensational performance inside a packed velodrome, the trio beat a strong New Zealand team to win a first-ever medal for Britain in the event.
In the bronze medal race, Germany edged out The Netherlands to make the podium.
"The support, the journey to get here, I’ve had my own personal battles and I wish my dad could have been in the stands watching me, but I know he was proud of me,” Capewell told BBC Sport.
"It didn’t feel real all day, we just did every ride and 'oh faster, oh faster again. We stuck to our process."
Capewell will now turn her attention to the Individual Sprint later in the week.
Join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #Lboro2Paris
Notes for editors
Press release reference number: 24/124
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
Loughborough is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Great Britain's Katy Marchant, Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell celebrate with their gold medals won in the Women's Team Sprint finals. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
An incredible ride from cyclist Sophie Capewell helped Great Britain's Women’s Team Sprint break the world record to win a glorious gold in Paris.
The current Loughborough University student and her team-mates Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant crossed the line in 45.186 seconds to smash the world record – for an incredible third time in the session.
In a sensational performance inside a packed velodrome, the trio beat a strong New Zealand team to win a first-ever medal for Britain in the event.
In the bronze medal race, Germany edged out The Netherlands to make the podium.
"The support, the journey to get here, I’ve had my own personal battles and I wish my dad could have been in the stands watching me, but I know he was proud of me,” Capewell told BBC Sport.
"It didn’t feel real all day, we just did every ride and 'oh faster, oh faster again. We stuck to our process."
Capewell will now turn her attention to the Individual Sprint later in the week.
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
Loughborough is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
