Jonathan Milan beats Filippo Ganna's world record in Individual Pursuit - "Charlton's time was incredible and I can still believe I beat him"

The Track World Championships are delivering and yesterday we have seen Jonathan Milan and Briton Josh Charlton beat the previous World Record set by Filippo Ganna in the Individual pursuit. Milan however, after a brilliant breakthrough season on the road, has now added a world title to his palmarès with the strong victory in Denmark.

"Since the qualifications I tried to give my best. Before the final I wasn't so sure I could do it. Charlton's time was incredible and I can still believe I beat him," Milan said in an interview following the race. "I only thought about the track and the table that we had given ourselves with the technical commissioner Marco Villa. Maybe I started too fast, but at that point I couldn’t slow down and I pushed until the end. I didn’t think I would beat the record, in the sense that it wasn’t the primary objective. When you’re in the final you think about bringing home the gold. However, against an opponent like that, I had to do something exceptional”.

3:59.636 was the time set by Ganna two years ago but the field is always evolving. 3:59.159 was the time set by the Lidl-Trek rider last evening which earned him a stupendous gold medal, in a podium rounded out by Britons. Milan hence continues to show off how his pure power is equally beneficial to his track palmarès, not just the road.

Italy's coach Marco Villa also shared his thoughts on the incredible performance: “Losing two world records that we felt were ours in the same year would have been really tough. Jonathan deserves the compliments of all Italian sport. When Charlton lowered Ganna’s limit with an incredible performance, he didn’t lose his composure. He aimed for victory and also for the world record. It’s the reward for a boy who grew up in comparison with Ganna without ever getting demoralized”.