One Polish rider left the London velodrome with a gold medal and the fastest recognised time ever recorded in his age category.
Wiesław Raczyński won the men’s 75–79 500-metre time trial at the 2026 UCI Masters Track World Championships on Thursday, completing the two-lap race in 38.469 seconds. The official result marked his performance “WB” — World Best, improving on the previous listed benchmark of 38.652 seconds set by American Steven Troseth in August 2025.
Raczyński’s ride was enough to beat Britain’s Dave Hughes, who took silver in 38.798 seconds, while France’s Marc Dangleterre finished third in 39.411.
- Find more news from Poland on our Homepage .
The Polish rider averaged 46.791 km/h over the 500 metres.
And he was not the only Pole collecting medals at Lee Valley VeloPark.
Four Polish medals across the championships
By 8 October, Polish riders had collected one gold and three silver medals at the London championships.
Maciej Teliszewski reached the final of the men’s 50–54 sprint, where he faced Latvia’s Ainars Kiksis. The Latvian won both rides in the best-of-three final, leaving Teliszewski with silver.
Patryk Biel added another second place in the men’s 45–49 points race.
Over 20 kilometres and 80 laps, Biel accumulated 40 points, finishing behind Britain’s James McCallum on 48 and ahead of Canada’s Willy Gonzalez, who took bronze with 34.
Marek Skórski then made it three Polish silver medals with his performance in the men’s 55–59 sprint.
Skórski had produced the second-fastest time in sprint qualifying before working his way through the elimination rounds and into the gold-medal final. There he came up against Japan’s Ryuji Ichimoto, who won the opening two rides to take the title.
For Poland, that left a medal haul spread across sprint, endurance and time-trial events — and across age groups ranging from 45–49 all the way to Raczyński’s 75–79 category.
A world-best mark in the oldest Polish medal category
Raczyński’s performance stands apart because of the designation attached to the result.
The official timing sheet did not simply list him as world champion. His 38.469-second ride carries the “WB” notation, replacing Troseth’s 2025 time as the best mark shown for the category.
That distinction is worth keeping precise. The published championship result calls it a World Best, rather than separately announcing it as a formally ratified UCI world record.
It nevertheless gives Raczyński an unusually clear achievement: gold at a UCI Masters World Championship and a new benchmark for the men’s 75–79 500-metre time trial on the same ride.
The championships are being staged at Lee Valley VeloPark in London from 5 to 11 October, bringing Masters riders from around the world together in age-group track events.
They are separate from the elite UCI Track World Championships, which take place later in October. Masters competition is organised by age category, allowing experienced competitive cyclists to continue racing internationally long after the age at which most elite professional careers have ended.
That makes Raczyński’s result particularly striking.
At an age when simply remaining active would be an achievement for many people, a Polish cyclist has covered half a kilometre on the London track in less than 39 seconds — and put his name beside the fastest time recognised in his Masters category.
With the championships continuing until 11 October, Poland’s four-medal tally may not be the final one. But the gold already has something extra attached to it: 38.469 seconds, and the letters WB.
