Zoe Bäckstedt of Great Britain claimed gold in the Under-23 women’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, delivering a dominant performance on the 22.6km course from at Kigali Convention Centre (KCC). The 20-year-old Briton overtook Luxembourg’s Nina Berton Schreiber, who had started three minutes ahead of her, to seal her first U23 world title on Monday, September 22, with a time of 30 minutes and 56 seconds. Bäckstedt finished one minute and 51 seconds ahead of Slovakian Victoria Chladonova, who took silver, while Italy’s Federica Venturelli completed the podium with a bronze. Rwanda’s Claudette Nyirarukundo was the first rider to start the time trial. She initially set the benchmark with a time of 37:14.33, which was soon surpassed by Anastasiya Samsonova. Samsonova went on to finish 20th overall with a time of 35:28.39, while Nyirarukundo ultimately ranked 31st. Rwandan debutant Martha Ntakirutimana placed 27th, finishing five minutes and 31 seconds behind Bäckstedt.
