Track cycling could be missing from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the first time the sport has not featured since the 1950s with the only remaining candidate, the city of Durban, South Africa, omitting it from its bid which was formally lodged in London this week.
While the host city will not be formally declared until September, the Canadian city Edmonton dropped out of the bidding last month, leaving Durban clear to be the first city in Africa ever to host the multi-sport event.
The Commonwealth Games programme has included track cycling since 1934, but the sport is an optional one for organisers to include, and the costs of building a velodrome are said to be behind the decision to drop it from its final plans.
Elsewhere, they can thrive – the one built in Manchester ahead of an unsuccessful bid for the Olympic Games in the late 1990s was used in the 2002 Commonwealth Games, is now home to British Cycling, and has been the cradle of a wealth of talent.
Among cyclists to have won Commonwealth Games medals on the track early on in their careers are Sir Bradley Wiggins, who took silver in the team pursuit at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, and Mark Cavendish, winner of the scratch race for the Isle of Man at Melbourne in 2006, where Australia’s Anna Meares won bronze in the sprint.
While a number of Commonwealth countries – including Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, which splits into the four home nations for the competition – have enjoyed top-level international success in recent years, South Africa lacks the same strength in the velodrome.
Durban’s bid does however include road cycling and mountain biking, with the latter – not previously featured in a Commonwealth Games – due to be held on an existing facility in Pietermaritzburg, which hosted the 2013 UCI World Championships.
Here’s the video for Durban’s bid.
Help us to fund our site
We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.
If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
NOtotheEU
12 min 12 sec ago
“the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”
― David Graeber,
“the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” ― David Graeber,
I have the Prime 50mm I got from Chain Reaction , I think they are house brand and i have been delighted with them, and cross season just finished...
I have Galibier Trail shorts from 5 or 6 years ago, I wonder of the liner short will fit in them?
cyclists should be made to display a number plate etc https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/police-issue-warning-devon-dri...
Sadly this is a common argument. Same in Edinburgh. "Yes, we support this kind of thing but not here / not now". The sudden concern for...
It looks pointless, but don't be fooled, it is pointless! And useless. Being a dashed line it means precisely nothing. So whatever was the...
There should be a minimum lifetime motoring ban for both criminals.
I think the situation is pretty much as it was when the changes came in, those that are going to give you space, end up giving you the space and...
Slam, bam, one for the 'gram.
Another vote for Sugru....