Lara Gillespie wins world points-race title as she builds towards Los Angeles
The Irish cyclist took gold in Shanghai after finishing fifth in the omnium, an event she targeted for qualification points on the path to the 2028 Olympics.
Lara Gillespie won the women's points race at the UCI Track World Championships in Shanghai on Sunday, 18 October, adding a second world title as she works towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The Irish cyclist said her fifth-place finish in the omnium also served her aim of gaining qualification points for next year's world championships.
How Gillespie won the points race in Shanghai
Gillespie scored 42 points, five more than silver medallist Amalie Dideriksen of Denmark. Belgium's Shari Bossuyt took bronze. The 100-lap race offers points in a sprint every 10 laps, as well as for gaining a lap on the field; The 42 identified Gillespie's points in the second and fifth sprints as key to her victory.
The result followed a silver medal in the scratch race earlier in the championships. Gillespie's previous world title came in the elimination race in Chile in 2025, according to The 42. Her Shanghai gold was therefore her second world championship victory in a different track discipline.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Gillespie said she was proud to finish her season with a win. She described the points race as close, tiring and highly tactical: ‘You have to look at the board after every lap to see where you are at and do some maths, figure it all out when you are going 60km/h,’ she said.
Why the omnium matters for Gillespie's Olympic plans
Gillespie had described the Los Angeles Games as her ‘big priority’ before the world championships. In Shanghai, she placed fifth overall in the women's omnium, the Olympic event she had particularly wanted to use to collect qualification points. Its four races are a scratch race, tempo race, elimination race and closing points race.
Gillespie told RTÉ Sport she had gone ‘all in’ for omnium points towards qualification for next year's world championships. She described that campaign as part of the longer Olympic qualification process and said she felt she was progressing. Her comments concern the points she sought and her assessment of her performance; RTÉ did not report that she had qualified for Los Angeles.
The points-race title gave Gillespie a gold medal at the end of a championship week in which she also reached the scratch-race podium and the omnium top five. She said she had entered the final race with tactics but had to respond to events as they unfolded, calling it ‘a really fun race’ despite its demands.
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Sources and context
- World champion Gillespie focused on LA after gold rushRTÉ Sport
- Ireland's Lara Gillespie triumphs at Cycling World Championships in ChinaThe 42 / TheJournal.ie
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.