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Chloé Dygert opened the UCI Cycling World Championships with a bang.
The 26-year-old from Indiana blasted to victory Thursday in the individual pursuit for the first elite gold medal of the worlds.
Dygert, who battled back from career-threatening injuries, roared to her fourth IP world title in dramatic fashion.
She lapped her final opponent Franziska Brausse as the race nearly closed, and perhaps that might have cost her a shot a new world record.
Dygert stopped the clock in 3 minutes, 17.926 seconds, shy of the world mark she set in Berlin in 2020 of 3:16.937.
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Dygert last won the individual pursuit title in 2020, just months ahead of her horrendous crash at the 2020 world road time trial championships in Italy.
A deep gash to her leg almost ended her racing career, but she fought back to compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games, and then struggled with Eppstein-Barr.
She returned to road racing this season in Europe, and hit a string of podiums on the road. A stage win at RideLondon was her second career victory in Europe.
The first on European roads came in the 2019 world time trial title in Yorkshire.
What a first day at these 2023 UCI Cycling World Championship! 🤩
Lots of emotions for the new World Champions 🌈
Can’t wait for tomorrow 🤗#GlasgowScotland2023 pic.twitter.com/xsdOZ6e60o
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) August 3, 2023
Dygert will race in the team pursuit, and then race in the time trial and road race events with elite women, two events in which she recently won the U.S. national titles.
Also read: More than 150 American racers are competing in Glasgow
Thursday’s track racing competition was the first day of competition for the so-called “Super Worlds” that includes competition across 13 disciplines until August 13.
Dygert is part of the big contingent of 150 riders representing USA Cycling and U.S. Paralympic Cycling team.
This worlds marks the first time para-cycling worlds will be contested in conjunction with able-bodied world championships.
USA Cycling and the U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team are pulling out all the stops to race for the medals.
Dygert hugs her coach after winning her fourth IP title. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)