FILE PHOTO: Cycling - UCI Track Cycling World Championships - Ballerup Super Arena, Ballerup, Denmark - October 16, 2024 Britain's Charlie Tanfield, Oliver Wood, Ethan Edward Hayter and Josh Charlton in action during the men's qualification in the 4000m team pursuit Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via REUTERS/File Photo
BALLERUP, Denmark (Reuters) - Britain's Josh Charlton set a world record for the men's individual pursuit during qualifying at the Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark on Friday.
Charlton finished in a time of three minutes 59.304 seconds, beating the previous mark of 3:59.636, set by Italian Filippo Ganna at the world championships in 2022 when winning his sixth gold medal in the 4km event.
The 21-year-old Charlton is only the third man to break the four minute mark, and will battle with Italy's Jonathan Milan for the gold medal later on Friday.
Milan rode a personal best of 4:00.296 to qualify for the gold-medal race, but now faces a tough task to finally take first prize having won two silvers and one bronze at the last three world championships.
Charlton already has a silver medal from the Men's Team Pursuit when Britain finished second to Denmark on Thursday, and one of his teammates, Charlie Tanfield, will take on fellow-Briton Daniel Bigham in the race for the bronze medal.
(This story has been corrected to change the day of Britain's silver medal to Thursday in paragraph 5)
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
