Sweden’s Söderqvist strikes first gold in U23 men’s world time trial
Swedish prospect Jakob Söderqvist stormed to victory and claimed his first rainbow jersey in the men’s Under-23 time trial at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali on Monday, September 22.
The 21-year-old completed the 31.2km course in 38 minutes and 24 seconds, finally climbing the podium as winner after two failed attempts.
He particularly impressed on the final uphill stretch, nearly doubling his 33-second lead from the third time check to the finish—on a section of the course that, on paper, should have been his weakest due to his larger build.
Söderqvist was contesting the U23 ITT at the World Championships for the third consecutive year. His win in Kigali marked a steady progression from his second-place finish in Zurich in 2024 and seventh in Stirling in 2023. Confident of his victory, the Swede roared in celebration as he crossed the line.
New Zealand’s Nate Pringle, making his debut at the World Championships, held on for silver, narrowly edging out France’s Maxime Decomble by just 17 hundredths of a second. Decomble, who mounted a strong challenge on the final climb, settled for bronze.
The day’s action began at 13:50 at BK Arena with home rider Etienne Tuyizere opening the time trial. Of the 61 riders scheduled to start, only Jarno Widar (Belgium) withdrew due to a minor injury.
Tuyizere initially set the benchmark at 43:37, but the most notable early performance came from Slovenia’s Jaka Marolt, who clocked 42:13, averaging 44 km/h. His time was later shattered by Poland’s Mateusz Gajdulewicz, competing in his fourth U23 World Championships ITT, who became the first to finish under 40 minutes with a time of 39:52.
Rwanda’s Samuel Niyonkuru finished 29th, 4 minutes and 50 seconds behind Söderqvist, while Tuyizere placed 31st, 5 minutes and 12 seconds off the winning pace.
The race marked Tuyizere’s final competitive appearance, while Niyonkuru is set to race again in the U23 men’s road race on Friday, September 26.
