For the fourth consecutive year, Denmark has been crowned world champions in the 4,000-meter team pursuit marquee event.
On Thursday, the Danish cycling quartet with Rasmus Lund, Lasse Norman Leth, Frederik Rodenberg, and Carl-Frederik Bévort—secured the gold medal in the final held in Shanghai, China.
The national track team proved completely dominant, crossing the finish line on the banked track with a time of 3 minutes and 40.865 seconds, defeating their opponents, Italy, by more than four seconds.
The Danish time was by far the fastest recorded at the World Championships.
The quartet came within less than a second of breaking the world record of 3 minutes and 39.977 seconds, which Denmark set at the European Championships in February of this year.
This marks Denmark’s sixth World Championship gold in this discipline; in addition to their victories over the last four years, they also won in 2009 and 2020.
For the final against Italy, national coach Casper Jørgensen opted to field Lasse Norman Leth once again, following a strong performance on Wednesday where he and the other three Danes decisively defeated Australia to secure their spot in the final.
Tobias Aagaard competed in the qualifying round but sat out the final two rounds.
Facing them was an Italian quartet featuring several major names, including Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan—both of whom are also prominent figures in road cycling.
The Danish quartet got off to the better start, holding a half-second lead after the first kilometer, thanks to a powerful effort from Rasmus Lund.
Lasse Norman Leth maintained the momentum, and by the halfway point, the lead had extended to one second. Frederik Rodenberg and Carl-Frederik Bévort maintained the high pace, and eventually, the Italians simply could not keep up.
The Danes were clearly the best in Shanghai, securing a measure of revenge for the last two Olympic Games, where Denmark lost the 2021 final and the 2024 bronze medal match to none other than Italy.