You’ll never guess how many world championship medals the UCI hands out each year
That is a whole lot of champagne, too
Photo by:
Sirotti
The upcoming snow biking world championships got us thinking, well, about all the world championshiops. In 2023, road world championships delivered the magic of the peloton. Mountain bike world championships thrilled with shoulder-to-shoulder racing and the extreme of downhill. Track worlds brought drama and wild sprints to the world of turning left. Cyclocross worlds were fun, even if the elite races didn’t off any surprises. Gravel remained strong. BMX is always exciting. And cycle-ball worlds were …. uh, wait a second. Just how many world championships are there? And how many individual world champions are crowned every single year?
Well, after spending way too long on the Union Cycliste International (UCI) website, which is not at all the world champion of websites, we found out that cycling’s governing organization is quite the busybody. There are hundreds of world championship medals handed out every year.
Here’s a complete list of every world championship event, and the total number of world champions, crowned each and every year by the UCI. Here’s hoping they order those medals in bulk.
World championships
In 2022, there were 18 separate world championship events in different disciplines: road, two track events (elite and junior), mountain bike, mountain bike marathon, BMX, indoor, gravel, fondo, pumptrack, eSport and the combined Urban Cycling event (BMX freestyle and trials). Para-athletes also compete in separate road and track world championship events. Masters account for another four (track, mountain bike, mountain bike marathon and cyclocross).
Many of these were be combined for 2023 at the first UCI cycling world championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Update: In 2024, UCI added a new world championship event: snow biking. Two categories, Super-G and Dual Slalom, will be raced on mountain bikes with studded tires to award four more world champions in Chatel, France on Feb.10-11, 2024.
World champions
With 19 different world championships, there are a lot of world champions. Here’s every single event where the UCI gives out a jersey, broken down by discipline.
*We’ve abbreviated men (M) and women (W) where events are equal as well as under-23 (U23) and time trial (TT). That’s about it.
Road
Time Trial: M/W Elite, M/W U23, M/W Junior, Mixed Relay (6 rider teams)
Road: M/W Elite, M/W U23, M/W Junior
(13 total events)
Mountain bike
XC: M/W Elite, M/W U23, M/W Junior, Team Relay
DH: M/W Elite, M/W Junior
eMTB: M/W Elite
XCC: M/W Elite
(15 total events)
Cyclocross
M/W Elite, M/W U23, M/W Junior, Team Relay
(7 events total)
MTB Marathon
Elite Men, Elite Women
(2 events total)
Track
Junior
M/W – Elimination, Scratch, Madison, Points, Ind. Pursuit, Omnium, Team Pursuit, Team Sprint, TT, Keirin, Sprint
EliteÂ
M/W – Elimination, Scratch, Madison, Points, Ind. Pursuit, Omnium, Team Pursuit, Team Sprint, TT, Keirin, Sprint
(44 events total)
BMX (Race)
M/W Elite, M/W U23, M/W Junior
(6 events total)
Gravel
Men Elite, Women Elite
(2 events total)
eSports
Men Elite, Women Elite
(2 events total)
Urban Cycling World Championships
Trials
Men Elite 20″, Men Elite 26″, Men Junior 20″, Men Junior 26″, Women’s Elite, Team
(6 events total)
BMX
Flatland (Men Elite, Women Elite)
Freestyle (Men Elite, Women Elite)
(4 events total)
Indoor cycling
Men’s Cycle-Ball
Artistic Cycling (M1, M2, Open4, W1, W2, Open 2)
(7 events total)
Pumptrack
Men’s Elite, Women’s Elite
(2 events total)
Snow Bike
Super G (Men Elite, Women Elite)
Dual Slalom (Men Elite, Women Elite)
Para Cycling
RoadÂ
Road – 26 events across men’s and women’s racing in C1-C5 categories
TT – 25 events across men’s and women’s racing in C1-C5 categories
Relay – Mixed Elite
(52 events total)
Track Â
Sprint, Scratch, Omnium, TT, Individual Pursuit, Tandem
Men’s and women’s C1-C-5 categories
(48 events total)
Masters
UCI uses five-year age categories for masters racing, so there is a separate world champion for every five-year grouping. Some disciplines use larger groupings when there are team entries or smaller fields. Gran Fondo world championships stand in as road world championships.
Gran Fondo
TT – (21)
Team – (1)
Gran / Media Fondo (20)
(42 events total)
Cyclocross
Men’s and women’s events divided into 5 year age categories.
(18 events total)
Track
Men’s and women’s events in:
Pursuit (19)
Scratch/Points (32)
Sprint (20)
Team Pursuit (6)
Team Sprint (7)
TT (20)
(104 events total)
Mountain bike
Usually, two masters mountain biking world championships are held. One for marathon events with men’s and women’s events in roughly five-year categories. Another worlds are held for XC and Downhill.
XCM Masters
Cross country marathon (14)
Masters mountain bike world championshipsÂ
Cross country (16)
Downhill (14)
(44 events total)
A legion of world champions
All together that is 418 world championship events contested annually. 214 events in Elite and Para cycling and another 208 masters world championship events. That’s a lot of champagne!
Who doesn’t get to be a world champion?
Despite UCI handing out medals in a staggering 422 events, there are still some popular cycling disciplines that don’t get a chance to be world champion.
Enduro is now governed by the UCI but still awards a series winner instead of a single-event world champion, though that may change. Slopestyle mountain biking is governed by the FMBA, not the UCI. Four-cross and XC Eliminator are World Cup events but no longer included in world championships.
In track cycling, the list of world championship events changes with some regularity.
Indoor cycling and Urban cycling are both still lacking gender equality in events. Several other disciplines only award elite titles, with no separate masters, junior or under-23 events. So there could, somehow, be even more world champions in the future.
