LIVE TRACKER: World Championship Qualification Criteria and Start List
Blog #34
SEPTEMBER 4 UPDATE: I’ve pressed pause in updating the tracker in anticipation of the UCI/MyWhoosh releasing the semifinals start list soon. I’ll post the official start list here when it’s released though!
October 4 Update: Here is the start list!
BELOW LAST UPDATED: September 1
Total of 136 qualified riders (64 men and 72 women)
In case you missed the whirlwind of news in the past few weeks, the qualification process for the UCI World Championship semi-finals on October 3 has been thrown for a bit of a loop, leaving a lot of folks confused about *exactly* what riders need to do to qualify.
In light of these developments, I thought it would be helpful to launch a centralized live tracker where the qualification criteria for each of the 30 federations that received quotas, race dates, and, ultimately, the start list for the semi-finals are all collected in a single place.
A couple of quick notes:
First, this is a live tracker. As of the launch date, we still don’t have a *ton* of information, but I will continuously update this page as more comes available. I’ll pin this post to the top of our website and blog page until after the semi-finals, so be sure to come back to it for all the most up-to-date news.
I won’t send out emails with every update, of course, but if you have the Substack app I will use the Notes function so that any additional updates show up in your feed.
Second, this post assumes readers already have all the necessary background on the qualification process. If you missed it, here are two links that should be read in conjunction with one another to understand the original concept and subsequent changes:
Third, and perhaps most importantly, I don’t have the resources to gather all this info alone. Sure, I can reach out to every federation, but I don’t really have the connections, and with how cycling esports are de-prioritized by some federations the responses are… inconsistent. Which is to say this is going to be a CROWD-SOURCED resource: so please share it widely, let me know if you think anything is incorrect, and if you have additional information that would fill in the gaps please send it my way so that I can include it here. You can DM me on Substack or shoot me an email at info@proecycling.com.
Finally, this is one of the more labor-intensive efforts we’ve undertaken recently. If you value this work and are able to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the blog and site, becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off donation on Buy Me a Coffee goes a long way. Cheers!
Qualified Riders
*Please note that the tables list the riders that have met the qualification criteria described below. We have not verified that these riders have already committed or intend to commit to representing their countries in the semi-finals and actually participating in the race.
Federation Qualifying Races - Schedule
[COMPLETED]August 2 - Brazil(1500 for the men, 1510 for the women)[COMPLETED]August 21 - United States(1700 MDT for the women, 1800 MDT for the men)[COMPLETED]August 22 - New Zealand(1900 NZST)[COMPLETED]August 23 - Canada(1200 ET)[COMPLETED]August 26 - Netherlands(2000, presumably CET)
Federation Quotas - Qualification Criteria
1. United States
Quota: 20 riders (10 men, 10 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Unclear - 19 riders have met the selection criteria, and it appears USA Cycling will nominate all 19 of them. However, for the final men’s spot, it’s not clear if they will put forth a rider.
Pro E Cycling reached out to USA Cycling on August 25 and is awaiting a response.
Qualification Criteria: The Top 3 men and women from the 2025 U.S. National Championship have qualified (that’s Hayden Pucker, Neal Fryett, and David Weinstein for the men, and Kristen Kulchinsky, Nicole Meyer, and Ellexi Snover for the women). The remaining 7 places for the men and women are the top 7 riders in the qualification race.
Qualification Race Date and Details:August 21(1700 MDT for the women, 1800 MDT for the men); same course/format as the MyWhoosh public qualifiers.Source: USA Cycling
2. Germany
Quota: 17 riders (10 men, 7 women) + Jason Osborne, defending world champion
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Yes
Additional Details: From a July 31 email to Pro E Cycling:
At this point, we can confirm that we intend to accept our full quota allocation for the 2025 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships semi-finals.
However, the final qualification process is currently still being defined. We're in internal coordination and expect to publish the official selection criteria and timeline within the next few weeks. At this stage, no riders have been officially selected yet.
Once the details are confirmed, we will communicate them publicly via our federation channels.
Pro E Cycling followed up on August 29. Here is the response, where they named their riders:
Based on a combination of last year’s semi-finals and finals, this year’s public qualifiers, as well as coach decisions, we have nominated the following riders for the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships 2025 powered by MyWhoosh:
Men
Moritz Ritter
Christoph Thiem
Simon Walter
Che Hohwieler
Marc Santo
Julian Herz
Sebastian Prinz
Amon Polierer
Simon Betz
Konrad Fenderich
Women
Pia Kummer
Emilia Welte
Dana Wagner
Johanna Zimmermann
Brigitte Filensky
Maria Marb
Lea-Sophie Rammert
Please note that Merle Brunnée (7th at the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships) will not be available for the semi-finals due to her participation in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. We hope that she will receive a wildcard from the UCI for the finals.
3. Belgium
Quota: 14 riders (10 men, 4 women)
August 6 Update: The Belgian federation’s website has an application page, and states that “Belgian Cycling is organizing the qualifying round for Belgian athletes in collaboration with MyWhoosh.”
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
4. Great Britain
Quota: 14 riders (4 men, 10 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? TBD
Qualification Criteria: Riders must submit an application form by EOD on August 17, and a panel will make the selections in an August 18 meeting. Riders will be informed on those decisions by August 25. There is no qualification race.
Source: British Cycling1
5. Sweden
Quota: 14 riders (4 men, 10 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Yes
Qualification Criteria: Not fully clear, though riders were asked to fill out an interest form online.
August 1 Update: Contribution from Chris Schwenker (go check out The Zommunique and the Escape Collective for more of his work), as per Sweden Esports Coordinator Conny Bjornehall - the Swedish riders are:
Men
Johan Norén
Johannes Keiding
Jakob Björklund
Avaktar Svar
Women
Mika Söderström
Lisa Hermansson
Marlene Bjärehed
Cornelia Engström
Camilla Ahlberg
Emma Belforth
Sara Lundin
Nellie Larsson
Anna Svärdström
Johanna Tidholm
Okay, this isn’t a opinion/commentary column, but that women’s team is stacked.
6. Denmark
Quota: 13 riders (10 men, 3 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
7. Netherlands
August 6 Update
Quota: 13 riders (3 men, 10 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Yes
Qualification Criteria: The winner of the qualification race on the men’s side and the Top 3 on the women’s side will qualify. The rest of the quota will be designated by national coach Koos Kers, in consultation with technical director Wilbert Broekhuizen.
Qualification Race Date and Details:August 26at 2000 (presumably CET)Source: Royal Dutch Cycling Union
8. New Zealand
Quota: 12 riders (5 men, 7 women) + Kate McCarthy, defending world champion
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Yes
Qualification Criteria: The top 5 men and 7 women in the qualification race will qualify.
Qualification Race Date and Details:August 22(1900 NZST)Source: Cycling New Zealand (here and here)
9. Norway
Quota: 12 riders (7 men, 5 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
10. South Africa
Quota: 12 riders (7 men, 5 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
11. Australia
Quota: 11 riders (7 men, 4 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? No (only 10 of 11, leaving off one man)
Qualification Criteria: Riders must submit an expression of interest form by 1700 AEST on August 12. Athletes will receive a confidential selection/non-selection decision from AusCycling on August 18, and on August 29 the final teams will be announced.
Automatic qualifiers will go to athletes that either:
Finished in the Top 10 at the 2024 World Championship (Josh Harris); or
Finished in the Top 2 at the 2025 Australia National Championship (Josh Harris again, so I guess he’s qualified twice? Congrats Josh 😁, and Lindon Milostic for the men; Tilly Field and Talia Chambers for the women).
Discretionary qualifiers - i.e, up to 5 more men and 2 more women - will be decided by the federation after taking into account power data and other subjective criteria. There is no qualification race.
Courtesy of Chris Schwenker, here are the riders nominated by the federation:
Elite Women
Imogen Alton
Talia Chambers
Matilda Field
Kate Trdin
Elite Men
Jonathon Cridland
Andrew Downie
Marc Gates
Joshua Harris
Lindon Milostic
Peter Milostic
Source: AusCycling
12. Finland
Quota: 11 riders (7 men, 4 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
13. France
Quota: 10 riders (5 men, 5 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 30; still awaiting a response.
14. Switzerland
Quota: 10 riders (3 men, 7 women)
Qualification Criteria: As translated by Google from the Swiss Cycling website:
Swiss Cycling has a total of 10 wildcards (7 for women, 3 for men). Priority in allocation goes, in addition to the runner-up finisher from last year's edition, to members of the national team in the Olympic endurance disciplines. If the number of interested athletes exceeds the number of available wildcards, Swiss Cycling will define a selection concept after the registration deadline has expired.
Athletes interested in a wildcard must register their interest by August 4, 2025, using the form below. If wildcards are still available after the deadline, they may be allocated to athletes who are not part of the national squads for the Olympic endurance disciplines.
Honestly, I don’t fully understand all of this. Kathrin Fuhrer placed third last year, not second, so technically she isn’t the “runner-up finisher from last year’s edition”? But she was also the only Swiss rider in Abu Dhabi, so I have to imagine the intent here is to select her.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on August 1 to clarify all this; still awaiting a response.
15. Canada
Quota: 9 riders (5 men, 4 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Unclear - only three men besides Thrall raced in the qualifier, so it unclear what Cycling Canada intends to do with the final men’s spot.
Qualification Criteria: The 2025 Canadian national champions (Thomas Thrall and Tiffany Penner) are in. The rest of the spots will be filled by the Top 4 men and Top 3 women in the qualifying race.
Qualification Race Date and Details:August 23(1200 ET). 2 races, with points awarded at the finish line of each. See source document for more details.Source: Cycling Canada
16. Brazil
Quota: 7 riders (0 men, 7 women)
August 5 Update, following August 1 Update:
Intend to Accept Full Quota? Unclear
Qualification Criteria: Top 7 highest scores in the upcoming 2025 Brazilian women’s national championship, with the federation retaining discretion to select additional riders if the full quota isn’t met through that process.
However, only five female riders (Gabriela Guerra, Ruti Reis, Caroline Manfron, Adriele Alves, and Stefani Picollo) raced in the August 2 national championship, and it is unclear whether the federation intends to name an additional two riders to use all seven of its spots.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on August 5 to clarify this; still awaiting a response.
Source: Brazilian Cycling Confederation
17. Ireland
Quota: 7 riders (4 men, 3 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
18. Italy
Quota: 6 riders (3 men, 3 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
19. Japan
Quota: 6 riders (3 men, 3 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
20. Turkey
Quota: 6 riders (3 men, 3 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
21. China
Quota: 5 riders (0 men, 5 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
22. Poland
Quota: 5 riders (5 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
23. Czech Republic
Quota: 4 riders (4 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
24. Argentina
Quota: 3 riders (3 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
25. Austria
Quota: 3 riders (3 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
26. Lithuania
Quota: 3 riders (0 men, 3 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? No
Qualification Criteria: From an August 31 email to Pro E Cycling:
[I]n Lithuania cycling esport isn't very popular at the moment. Since we have only one female rider [Ursulia Kesani] who is competing in different races so she will be the only one from Lithuania in the semi finals.
27. Philippines
Quota: 3 riders (0 men, 3 women)
Intend to Accept Full Quota? No - will not nominate any riders.
August 21 Update: From an email to Pro E Cycling:
We're not to fill quota[ ] yet for this year. We are currently focused on the nearing 2025 SEA Games. We have yet to look into UCI Esports for our country.
28. Portugal
Quota: 3 riders (3 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
29. Hong Kong
Quota: 3 riders (3 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
30. Slovenia
Quota: 3 riders (3 men, 0 women)
Unaware of any further information.
Pro E Cycling reached out to the federation on July 31; still awaiting a response.
Open Public Qualifiers
UPDATED AUGUST 6
MyWhoosh will hold at least four open public qualifiers, through which riders that do not qualify through the federation process can nonetheless still advance to the semi-finals. Here are the dates of those races, but see here for more detail and why won’t know who actually qualifies through these races until long after they happen.
August 6 Update: Spots in the semi-finals will be awarded evenly across all four of the initial open qualifiers until there are 150 riders in the semis. So for example, suppose that the federations nominate 118 male riders by the August 31 deadline. That leaves 32 slots to be allocated through the open qualifiers, or eight per race. MyWhoosh would then take the Top 8 riders from the first open qualifier that did not receive a federation nomination and place them in the semi-finals. Then, they would take the Top 8 riders from the second open qualifier that did not receive a federation nomination OR qualify by being in the Top 8 in the first open qualifier, and place those eight riders into the semi-finals (and so on and so forth through the fourth open qualifier).
MyWhoosh intends to fill all 150 slots in the semi-finals, so, in MyWhoosh’s words from an August 6 email, “[i]f we do not reach 150 qualified riders through federation allocations and the MyWhoosh events, we may consider adding an additional final qualification race to give more athletes the opportunity to qualify.”
MyWhoosh responded to additional clarifying questions about the open qualifying process as well, but I’ve relegated these to a footnote to try to keep the body of this text shorter.2
In addition, please see this footnote for how we’ve gone about including race results from the open qualifiers into the above list of riders that have advanced to the semi-finals.3
[COMPLETED] Wednesday,August 6: UCI World Championship Open Qualifier 1 - Asia-Pacific & EuropeFriday,August 8: UCI World Championship Open Qualifier 2 - Europe & AmericasFriday,August 22: UCI World Championship Open Qualifier 3 - Asia-Pacific & EuropeWednesday,August 27: UCI World Championship Open Qualifier 4 - Europe & Americas
Federations Without Quotas
August 6 Update: If a federation did not receive a quota, it may still “propose up to 3 riders that will be automatically invited to the start line of the Semi-Finals.”
At the moment, Pro E Cycling is not aware of any such federations that have requested spots. However, in an August 6 email, MyWhoosh clarified that any riders that qualify for the semi-finals through this process “will be in addition to the 150 to help grow the sport.”
One of the instructions British Cycling provides riders sort of illustrates the absurdity of the concurrent open qualifier/federation qualifier process we discussed here. Riders are told that “if [they] qualify for the semi finals in the open qualifiers, [they] do NOT need to apply for [s]election.” But as we now know, “MyWhoosh will announce its list of qualified riders only after all national federations have confirmed their representatives.” So… given the timelines of the federations and the August 31 deadline, it doesn’t seem like there is any way British riders would actually know if they qualified through the public qualifiers before the application deadline.
Two other questions Pro E Cycling asked MyWhoosh, along with the responses:
Question: One thing though that doesn’t make sense to me here: federations are not required to put through names until August 31 (and, as we’ve discussed, potentially later, though it’s not entirely clear). MyWhoosh has also said that “athletes [are expected] to participate in both their respective national federation qualifiers and the MyWhoosh qualifiers.” So to take an example: say I’m the Belgian federation. I’ve got 10 spots for the men. If Lionel Vujasin races in an open qualifier and wins, why wouldn’t I leave him off the list of riders I nominate through my quota, thereby getting an extra, eleventh rider?
MyWhoosh Response: There is no mandatory requirement for riders to participate in the MyWhoosh qualifiers. These events were designed to provide opportunities for riders who may not qualify through their national teams, essentially offering a pathway for more everyday riders. While federations can choose to use this route, it's important to note that if a federation removes a rider like Lionel to allow him to qualify via the MyWhoosh process, they are effectively reallocating a slot that might have gone to a different rider through that pathway. The overall goal has always been to maximize qualification opportunities for the semi-finals. Last year, we did not fill all 150 available slots, and this year the goal is to find the best 150 riders in both categories.
Pro E Cycling Reaction: I guess this makes sense, but it doesn’t really address the incentives issue here. If I’m the Belgian federation, my goal is to maximize the amount of Belgian riders in the semi-finals (and thus, hopefully, the finals). So I wouldn’t really care if Vujasin is taking a spot from a non-Belgain rider, since I’m now able to end-run my quota.
Question: Moreover, if “athletes [are expected] to participate in both their respective national federation qualifiers and the MyWhoosh qualifiers,” and only 20 riders are scoring points at each location of the open qualifier, it’s entirely possible that the only riders that score points in an open qualifier will later qualify through the federation process. If that happens, how will MyWhoosh determine which riders qualify through that open race? Would they just reallocate the spots to the other open qualifiers? Or maybe just not have all 150 places filled in the semis?
MyWhoosh Response: We will roll down the riders, our aim is to offer 150 slots for both male and female.
Pro E Cycling Reaction: I would imagine this is also what keeping open the possibility of a fifth qualifier in September does - if the roll down gets to riders that didn’t score points in the open qualifiers before all 150 spots are filled, MyWhoosh can hold the additional open qualifier to get to 150. For what it’s worth, as I have explained, I think MyWhoosh is in a tough position here, and I think doing what they can to fill out all 150 spots is a good thing in the abstract, even if the details in getting there have been messy.
By my count, the initial federation quotas amount to 126 spots for men and 135 for women.
In reality though, we know that it’s down to 125 for the men, since Australia has forfeited one spot.
For the women, it’s down to 130 since we know Lithuania is forfeiting two of its spots and the Philippines all three of its spots).
That means that, at minimum, six men and five women from each open qualifier will make it through.
Of course, the federations won’t be using all of those spots, and as described above some of the top riders in the open qualifiers will subsequently receive nominations from their federations, triggering the roll down process to riders lower in the standings for a particular open qualifier.
In light of these uncertainties, for the time being we’ve taken the approach of adding only the top six male and top five female riders from each open qualifier into the master list of riders who have qualified for the semis. It may be true that some of these riders end up receiving a nomination from their federation (e.g., Josh Harris has an automatic spot from Australia based on their published requirements, but still placed in the Top 6 in the first open qualifier). But given the obvious incentives described above in footnote 2 for AusCycling to leverage that result into another “free” spot in the semi-finals, I’ve opted to take a conservative approach in light of the imperfect information and only add riders to the master list if it is completely certain they have qualified.
That being said, there are three tweaks to this approach thus far:
First men’s qualifier: we’ve added in the seventh place rider, Riccardo Panizza, because Josh Harris, who finished above him, received a nomination from Australia.
Third men’s qualifier: we’ve added in the seventh place rider, Martin Qvist Mathiasen, because Kaan Kayin, who finished above him in that race, had by our calculations already qualified by placing in the top six in the second public qualifier.
Fourth men’s qualifier: we initially added two riders, Daniel Hoyos and Marcin Trojanowski, because two riders in the top six (Geoffrey Millour and Henrik Öijer) had already qualified through earlier public qualifier races. Trojanowski finished ninth, but was added because David Weinstein, above him, appears to have received a nomination from USA Cycling.
We later added another rider, Gustav Berlin, when Simon Walter received a nomination from Germany. Berlin finished 12th, but Daniel Mundell (11th) and Marc Santo (12th) had already made it through to the semifinals via an earlier public qualifier and the federation process, respectively.
First women’s qualifier: Minna Koistinen added because Kate Trdin, who finished above her, received a nomination from Australia.
Second women’s qualifier: Rhian Denton added because Brigitte Filensky, who finished above her, received a nomination from the German federation.
Fourth women’s qualifier: three riders, Christine Schneider, Julia Montgomery, and Amy Bradley appear to be in because Sarah Roach, Joanna Kalman, and Kristy Hebersmith, who finished above them, had already qualified (through the U.S. qualification race for Roach and previous open qualifiers for the other two). Bradley finished ninth, but is listed because Kristen Hohl, who finished eighth, also qualified through the U.S. race.