Ganna breaks individual pursuit world record

Filippo Ganna set the new benchmark for individual pursuit at the Track World Cup, Minsk, on Sunday.

The Italian broke the existing record twice in one day, setting a time of 4:04.252 in qualifying and then bettering that with 4:02.647 in the final. The time betters the past record of 4:05.423 set by American Ashton Lambie in September.

Ganna, who rides for Ineos on the road, and holds three world champion titles at the pursuit, set an average speed of over 59kph as he broke the record.

The performance is rendered more impressive by the fact that Ganna broke the record at sea level, whereas Lambie’s time was set at 2500m altitude in Bolivia.

John Archibald (Great Britain) placed second in the final, and Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland) took third.