Rising Star: Britain’s Ferguson Dominates Junior Women’s TT at Road World Championships 2024

The world champion in the women’s junior individual time trial was Kat Ferguson of Great Britain. The 18-year-old, who has a wide range of experience in road, track and cyclocross racing and has joined Movistar, won her first Arc-en-Ciel in a road event.

The women’s junior individual time trial took place over a 18.8km round trip on the flat section of the latter half of the course for the elite men and women. In chilly weather with a temperature of 13 degrees, 58 athletes aged 16-18 from 34 countries started one after another.

At the measurement point set up at the halfway point, the final runner, Kat Ferguson (Great Britain), who beat the provisional top time of Fi Knaven (Netherlands), who placed 2nd in the European individual time trial, by about 9 seconds, continued to maintain a high pace. Ferguson also beat Viktoria Sharadonova (Slovakia) and Imogen Wolff (Great Britain), who improved their times in the latter half of the race, and won the time trial in just under 24 minutes with an overwhelming pace that beat Sharadonova by 34 seconds. Ferguson’s average speed was 47.338km/h.

Imogen Wolff (Great Britain) came in third. Photo: UCI

Kat Ferguson (Great Britain) pushing ahead at an overwhelming pace Photo: UCI

“It feels incredible. I think the mistakes I made before make this jersey even more special. The process I’ve been through to make this run happen has been incredible. I have to thank so many people. It’s hard to express it, but I want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point,” said Ferguson, who stood on the podium with teammate Wolff to receive the gold medal with Arc-en-ciel.

Ferguson is a multi-talented British athlete who is a member of the national team in three events: cyclocross, track, and road. At last year’s Road World Championships, he missed out on winning, coming in second in the road and 10th in the individual time trial, but at the Track World Championships held in August this year, he contributed to Britain’s victory in the team pursuit and also won the omnium that followed. On the road, he joined Movistar as a trainee on August 1st and immediately won the UCI2 class race. This is his first Arc-en-ciel title on the road, and his third this year if track is included.

Road World Championships 2024 Women’s Junior Time Trial Podium: 1st Ferguson, 2nd Sharadnova, 3rd Wolf Photo: UCI

Ferguson has an overwhelming winning record this year, winning 9 out of 17 road races, taking the overall championship 3 times, and only missing out on the podium once. He will be with Movistar until he turns 21 in 2027. This 18-year-old combines acceleration, speed and technique, so it’s worth remembering him.