The Piste Take

Send us Fan MailIt's been a while since Kelsey Mitchell was on the show, and honestly, she's basically lived three athletic careers since our last conversation. We're catching up with the Tokyo gold medalist about everything that's happened since, including a stint in speed skating, and a surprise pivot to bobsleigh that landed her a spot at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. And now, her return to the velodrome! Kelsey opens up about what it was like walking away from cycling after a tough Paris 2024 and dealing with real burnout after years at the top. We talk about how she ended up trying speed skating, why it didn't stick, and how a bobsled tryout in Calgary turned into representing Canada at a Winter Games, making her one of a small handful of Canadians to compete in both Summer and Winter Olympics.She also gets into why she's back on two wheels now, training at the brand-new Alberta Velodrome near her hometown , what rehabbing a long-standing leg issue has looked like, and yes  whether LA 2028 is on the table for a fourth Olympic Games.This is a wild one. Kelsey's done more in the last two years than most athletes do in a decade.

Send us Fan MailNow we're all recovered from a super busy Commonwealth Games for both Lewis & Jonny we thought now is the best time to review it, chat through some of the trends and answer the biggest question of all: What is the point of the Commonwealth Games? To tackle these big questions we brought on track cycling legend, expert commentator and 2-time Olympic Champion, Joanna Rowsell. We hear all about Lewis & Jo's experience on the commentary team and some of Jonny's insights from the track centre. We hope you enjoy!Fundraiser for Anna Kolyzhuk, please support if you can: https://gofund.me/0ceec4cd7Thanks again to the Legendary Joanna Rowsell for jumping on with us, and as always our sponsors at the Velodrome Shop. You can check them out today at www.velodrome.shop

Send us Fan MailJonny and Lewis fly solo to wrap up day 4 with our most tired, but also most inspired day yet. We chat through home crowd disappointments with Scotland narrowly missing out on some big wins, alongside continued Aussie and Welsh dominance - from Finucane’s clean sweep to Hoffman’s mind blowing kilo. We also got debrief Manxman Matt Bostock’s remarkable points race win & the last day of Commgame’s Paracycling Programme. We will be back with a full debrief of the games once we’ve recovered and a little bit more cold light of day to analyse the results so please stay tuned!

Send us Fan MailWe're back for day 3 after a dramatic day of tandem tension, scratch crashes, dominant aussie sprinting and Welsh Women's Wonders

Send us Fan MailWe are back again, slightly more sober, slightly more tired for Day 2 of the Commonwealth Games. We get into it with the best keirin rider of all time - Azizulhasni Awang - and his mindblowing display in that Men's Keirin final. We also chat through Lewis' experiences with TNT and all the day's best racing bits and titbits. Tune in again tomorrow for Day 3

Send us Fan MailWe are joined by returning podcast guest Lewis Oliva fresh from his CG 4th place heroics! This is a messy episode complete with beers, stories and lessons to us why not to invite Lewis Oliva to a short form episode. Hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailJoin us on the Pistetake for our preview episode of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in the heart of track cycling - Glasgow! We look ahead to the events we're most excited for, the teams we're backing for success and the riders we expect to feature across the individual events too. Note for listeners: We recorded this before Matt Richardson sadly got wiped out racing in Japan so he now won't be competing across the week. Sending our best wishes to Matt in his recovery.All this week we'll be doing a nightly round up of each day of racing. Tune in to hear our thoughts tomorrow night on Day 1!!

Send us Fan MailAhead of the Commonwealth Games we speak to Ciara Oliva, after she completed one of the most amazing comebacks in track cycling. After her career on GBCT and the disappointment of being a reserve at the Rio Olympics, Ciara has came back after 10 years retirement, 3 kids and a whole other career to compete for Wales at her 3rd Commonwealth Games. We talk through the whole journey, and it's an inspiring one. 

Send us Fan MailWe are back! We might have missed a week in our release schedule but we certainly didn't miss any quality with our latest guest, former world champion in the once conquering Aussie Men's Team Sprint Team and now endurance hero - Thomas Cornish. We hear all about his 10 year plan from sprint to enduro, what it was like behind the scenes in Team Aus during the Paris Olympics and you guessed it... The AUS->GBR transfer of Matthew Richardson. We were also delighted to hear about how his progression from sprinter to track endurance rider is going, his exploits in the Euro race scene and how he plans to break into the all conquering Men's Team Pursuit team in Australia.Thanks once again to our incredible sponsors at the VelodromeShop for their ongoing support of the Pistetake.For anyone interested in Tom's extensive palmares on the road, click the link below:https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/thomas-cornish/2026

Send us Fan MailOn this weeks episode we speak to our first ever coach from an asian nation, Boris Clark. Formerly, of the New Zealand Cycling Team, Boris is now the Head Endurance coach at China Cycling. He took up the role last year, and has quickly had some incredible results, including World Cup gold, and establishing China as a serious contender in endurance for the first time. Join us as we find out more about his past, and a programme we don't know a huge amount about. 

Send us Fan MailThis week on The Piste Take, we pay tribute to one of the greatest track cyclists Britain has ever produced. Katie Archibald, two-time Olympic gold medallist, four-time world champion, has announced her retirement, and we think she deserves her flowers. After 13 years at the very top of the sport, she walks away with 51 major medals, seven world titles and a record 21 European crowns. We reflect on a career that was like no other, and the impact she's had on the sport not just as an athlete, but as a person. Then we turn to a story that has the track cycling world furious. Cycling Canada has told its women's team pursuit squad, two years out from the Los Angeles Olympics, that they will not be sent to the UCI Track World Championships in Shanghai this October, the first qualifying event for LA 2028, and that the program will not be supported through to the Games. We break down what's happened, why it matters, and what it says about how national teams understand (or don't)  what it's like to be on of their athletes. 

Send us Fan MailWe return to the podcasting world with a blockbuster episode where we're joined by Aussie Track Sprint sensation Alessia McCaig. As the keirin winner at the recent Perth World Cup, we catch up with Alessia. We chat through her journey with the Australian Sprint Programme, her keirin racing identity & the recent impact of Women's Sprint Coach, Kaarle McCulloch. Alessia has went from strength to strength in the last few years, winning World Championship medals & making the keirin final at last years Worlds' in Santiago, Chile. We also learn about her dream training group from riders past and present - it doesn't disappoint!Tune in to find out all about our thoughts from our listener questions too. Please feel free to ask us any questions you have via our social media channels @thepistetake!

Send us Fan MailHot off the press, we welcome back to the podcast 2x Olympic Champion and top TNT Sport Commentator, Joanna Rowsell to debrief the last 3 rounds of Nations Cups. We tackle the series as a whole, look at the progress the UCI has made in delivering a 3-round series & some of the pitfalls along the way. Tune in to hear the expert analysis of some of the racing trends too - from the Rise of China, to the new sprint wars on both Men & Women's side. Listen right to the end to hear our thoughts on all the implications of this World Cup series on the upcoming Olympic Qualification for team events. Thanks again to the Legendary Joanna Rowsell for jumping on with us, and as always our sponsors at the Velodrome Shop. You can check them out today at www.velodrome.shop

Send us Fan MailWe are back with breakout German Men's sprint star Luca Spiegel. We hear all about Team Deutschland's 4 week training camp in Perth before the recent World Cup, his experiences with riding with the best at Paris Olympics and the long road since. This was one of our favourite episodes to record with one of TrackSprinting's good guys, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.Thanks again to our sponsors at the Velodrome Shop!

Send us Fan MailThis week we welcome back to the podcast track cycling legend and newly anointed Belgian Cycling Sprint coach, Theo Bos. We hear all about his exploits as a World Tour road racer, the transition from track sprint. Theo tells us about his shock return to the track in 2016 and his unique road to the Rio Olympic Games. We also learn about his hobby project of BEAT cycling and his route into coaching.This was a fascinating conversation and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Send us Fan MailWe are back with our normal episodes with a BANG! This week we take our longest ever intro to discuss the recent doping ban of Colombian track star, Martha Bayona Pineda before welcoming on Team USA superstar and human Adonis, Mr Anders Johnson. As a bronze medallist in last year's Individual Pursuit in Chile, Santiago, Anders is in a great place to tell us about the USA Men's Endurance Programme; their development from anonymity to thrusting themselves into the spotlight. We chat all things from his route into track cycling, the origins of their hodge-podge team pursuit group and their ultimate professional start-up mentality as they build towards a home Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028.It was a pure pleasure chatting with Anders and we wish Team USA all the best in their quest to qualify and perform in LA. Special shoutout as always goes to our sponsors at The Velodrome Shop. Check them out today at www.velodrome.shop

Send us Fan MailWe bring you our final British Track Nationals Special episode with a short interview too with triple British champ, Emma Finucane. We discuss her race performances, upcoming competitions and the excitement of being back repping the famous Welsh Green Dragon!As the audio corrupted on our initial roundup, we bring Lewis back in in the studio to chat through the other events of the day - from a controversial Men's Points race, Richo ripping the face off the Men's Keirin and a standout statement performance form Emma Boothman in the Women's Elimination. With thanks as always to our sponsors the Velodrome Shop for all their help in keeping the show on the road. Check them out at www.velodrome.shop and take your track cycling to the next level, today!

Send us Fan MailIn our next wrap up, we're again joined by the calming presence of Tom Davidson to chat through Day 3 of the 2026 British Track Nationals. We are joined by podcast stalwart Will Tidball to talk through THAT elimination race where he believes he was robbed of national title. In other events the ususal suspects like Emma Finucane, Matty Richardson, Sophie Unwin, and Finn Graham all added national titles to their names, while rising talents elsewhere showcased the depth of British track talent. 

Send us Fan MailIn our next day 2 wrap up, we're again joined by the calming presence of Tom Davidson to chat through Day 2 of the 2026 British Track Nationals. On the Women's Endurance side we chat through a world class final between Josie Knight and Anna Morris; before being joined by rising Scottish Superstar Erin Boothman. With Men's sprinters we talk through a dominant sprint performance from Matty Richo, alongside breakthrough ride from 19 year old Archie Gill, while the Women's Team Sprint saw some team order flip flopping amongst Team GeayBeay. We wrap our way through and look ahead to an awesome Day 3.

Send us Fan MailAs Jonny is down coaching at nationals we thought we'd try and put out some short sharp episodes. With a quick roundup with Cycling Weekly's Tom Davidson, we did a short feature interview with Matt Richardson as he just recorded 9.19s in his Flying 200m - the fastest time ever at sea level outside of Olympics!

Send us Fan MailWe talk through our take on last week's 2026 UEC Elite European Track Championships in Konya, Turkey. We discuss new World Records, Harrie Lavreysen's dethroning by Matty Richardson and what it might mean for the months ahead, and give our take on the racing overall. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or direct message us @thepistetake on instagram! 

Send us Fan MailAfter some unexpected logistical hurdles, we are back with a bang! In this episode we bring on our former housemate, teammate & 4 time World Championship medallist Joe Truman. We hear about Joe's recent successes at the 2025 UCI Track World Championships in Chile where he came home with a silver and a bronze medal in the Team Sprint & 1km Time Trial respectively. Listen to our latest episode to hear about the progression of GB's Men's Team Sprint, balancing training between riding P1 in Team Sprint while winning medals in the kilo.We also roll back the years to bring some exclusive insight into the Academy Years on GB with Jonny & Joe, including road rage, Jack Carlin's diet & Joe's part time career as a car washer. We loved having Joe on the show, and hope you do too!

Send us Fan MailOn this episode, we speak to one of the the all time greats of track cycling. No one else has won the sprint world championships multiple times, a world champs madison medal, and won road stages on the World Tour. Truly one of the most versatile athletes that has ever graced the bicycle, we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailListen as we breakdown this years Track World Championships with no less than the devil himself, Will Tidball. Dutch and GB on top, but were there any other stories from behind the scenes? We hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailOn this episode, we are back with a pre-race preview of tomorrow's World Championships. We run you through the disciplines, share a bit of gossip, and tell you who to watch out for in Santiago this year!

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of The Piste Take, we speak to a man who broke onto the scene last October after seemingly breaking the IP WR out of nowhere. We hear if that really was the case or if it was just a matter of time. We take a journey through the silent rise of one of the fastest and most promising pursuits of talents in the world. 

Send us Fan MailOn this episode we speak to Olympic silver medallist Cole Shields. This is one of the more incredible stories we've had on the podcast as we hear about how Cole battled through multiple major set backs and chronic fatigue to reach the podium in Paris. I don't think we've ever had more ridiculous stories and tangents. If you want to support Cole's journey across Africa you can find the link here: https://wbr-africa-project-2025.squarespace.com/

Send us Fan MailOn today's episode we bring on one of great relics of track sprint, Commonwealth and World Cup medallist, doctor and self declared professional rugby player, Lewis Oliva. Lewis was one of the main GB sprinters going into Rio and we hear the story of the early days of the academy programme, the progression to podium and everything in between. He is the people's champion, it was an absolute blast and we hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailOn this episode we get back on the man making track cycling great again, Justin Grace. In the previous two episodes with Justin we learnt all about his past, but today, we learn about his future. Since we last recorded Justin has taken up the role of head sprint coach at USA cycling and we peel back the curtain on why the sleeping giant has never really realised it's potential and what the plans are for the upcoming home Olympic Games. 

Send us Fan MailA lot of the time in cycling we have copy and paste origin stories, not this week. Anna has one of the most unique roots into the sport and from there, she went strength to strength. Olympic medallist, 3 time world champ and world record holder, hear the story of how she went from the university championships to the international stage!

Send us Fan MailPart 2 with one of the most underrated legends of our sport - Shane Perkins. An Olympic medallist, world and commonwealth champion, Shane has had one of the longest careers in tracking cycling spanning nearly 20 years and 2 countries. We had a such a laugh recording this and we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailOn this episode we speak to one of the most underrated legends of our sport - Shane Perkins. An Olympic medallist, world and commonwealth champion, Shane has had one of the longest careers in tracking cycling spanning nearly 20 years and 2 countries. We had a such a laugh recording this and we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailA new year and out first round up. Jonny is freshly back from racing in Zolder and we get his inside track from the champs!

Send us Fan MailEver wondered how to train with no time? How to stay motivated or how to age in reverse? On this episode we hear one of the most usual stories in track cycling, that of Pete Mitchell. Pete was a long standing member of the GBCT and after huge successes on the tandem retired from the sport. in 2023 he stunned riders and audiences at the British champs were he took gold in the sprint after only recently retuning casually to the sport. Pete also runs the largest track cycling coaching company in the world, Black Line. This pod has it all, and we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of the Piste Take we speak to our first Frenchman! European and Nations Cup medallist Oscar Nilsson-Julien. After beginning his career with the GBCT he transferred to the French and has since gone from strength to strength - and his first Olympic Games. It's got all you want from a podcast with a French rider -  château's, gossip and passion. We hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailOn this weeks episode we speak to recent double world champion, Olympic silver medallist and now retired, Julie Norman Leth. Julie, by far, has had one of the most interesting stories of 2024, from having a baby in January to winning two world titles at her home track in Denmark. But before that, we understand the journey that led up to that moment and how little support there was for Julie coming out of juniors and how despite this she ultimately realised her success. Very few are as lucky to have such a perfect send off, we had a great time chatting with her and we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailOn this weeks episode we speak to Olympic bronze medallist and faster starter ever to live Leigh Hoffman. We chat through his route to becoming probably the fastest accelerator we have ever seen, what makes the Aussie men's sprint programme so strong and what he thinks about Matthew Richardson's defection to Great Britain and he didn't hold back...

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of The Piste Take we bring back our most regular guest and the man who needs no introduction, Dan Bigham. We catch up after his recent retirement news and look back on his Paris experience. 

Send us Fan MailBetter late than never our 2024 Track World Championship round up is out! 

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of The Piste Take we speak to Olympic silver medallist and member of the New Zealand track team Shaane Fulton. Shaane has had perhaps one of the most difficult journeys to the Games, dealing with the lose of friend and teammate Liv Podmore, serious hip surgery and constant injuries. Despite everything arrived at the Games and achieved more than anyone could of expected. Setting three Olympic records during racing and winning a silver. It's a remarkable story and there's no one kinder and more deserving. We hope you enjoy!  

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of The Piste Take we welcome back previous guest Mehdi Kordi, the ex-head coach (having recently step down) of the Dutch Sprint squad after what was an incredibly successful Paris Olympics. We discuss how the guys pulled it off once again, the rise of Hetty and Mehdi's plan for the future. Will we ever see him in track cycling again? We had a blast recording this and we hope you enjoy!

Send us Fan MailBetter late than never, on this episode we break down all the results and interesting tit bits from this years Paralympics! We are joined by cycling and part time comedian Steve Bate with his classic controversial takes. We hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailWe were very lucky to be joined AGAIN by Katie Archibald to round up that amazing Paris Olympics. There is so much to dive into but we try our best to talk about the moments we found interesting and get into the bones of some of you the things you maybe don't see on the TV. We hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailThe hottest topic in track cycling is the sudden defection of podcast friend Richo from Australia to GB following the Olympics. This came as a shock to a lot of us but we roll back the curtain and give you a detailed insight into his thoughts and decision making that led to this moment. We hope you enjoy 

Send us Fan MailTHE TIME HAS COME! The Olympics are here and so are our daily round ups. With Jonny away coaching at the Games we are very privileged to welcome Olympic gold medallist Katie Archibald on to co host with Lewis. The men's heavy weight boxing continued concluded today, we saw some electric times in the women's sprint quali and of course the spectacle of the women's madison! 

Send us Fan MailTHE TIME HAS COME! The Olympics are here and so are our daily round ups. With Jonny away coaching at the Games we welcome world champion Will Tidball from the GB squad on to co host with Lewis. Today we have some rough and tumble in the men's sprint, the women's keirin and a nail biting men's omnium. Have a listen and find out!

Send us Fan MailTHE TIME HAS COME! The Olympics are here and so are our daily round ups. With Jonny away coaching at the Games we welcome Michael Gill from the GB men's pursuit squad on to co host with Lewis. Today we have the much anticipated men's sprint qualification, the start of the women's keirin and the team pursuit finals! Will records fall? Have a listen and find out!

Send us Fan MailTHE TIME HAS COME! The Olympics are here and so are our daily round ups. With Jonny away coaching at the Games we welcome Robin Skivild member of the Danish team pursuit squad on to co host with Lewis. Today we talk women's TP, men's TP and that lighting fast Dutch men's TS. We hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailTHE TIME HAS COME! The Olympics are here and so are our daily round ups. With Jonny away coaching at the Games we welcome Sam Webster on to co host with Lewis. Today we talk men's TS, men's TP and that amazing women's team sprint competition. We hope you enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailThe time for me and Jonny sniping from the sidelines is over, today we put our predictions down. But not only our predictions we are also incredibly lucky to be joined by Olympic gold medalist and Eurosport commentator Joanna Rowsell. We go event by event in detail explaining our choices and why we are obviously going to be 100% correct... We hope you enjoy and we look forward to being completely wrong.