Four months after the end of her two-year suspension for doping, Shari Bossuyt returns to the Track World Championships this week in Santiago, Chile (October 22-26).
The Belgian returned to competition on the road in June, when her suspension ended, and has already recorded a comeback road win at the Grand Prix de Wallonie in September. From Wednesday, she will make her return to a major track meet for the first time at the World Championships.
Bossuyt was suspended from all racing in 2023 after returning a positive test for the banned substance letrozole after winning a stage of the Tour de Normandie Féminin. The Belgian, who rode for Canyon-SRAM at the time, maintained her innocence, saying the positive was a result of consuming contaminated food, but she was still served a two-year ban which was upheld after she gave up her appeal.
After her ban ended earlier this summer, she signed for AG Insurance-Soudal, and she has now been selected for the World Championships with Belgium. She is a former world champion on the track, winning the madison in 2022 with Lotte Kopecky.
At the Worlds in Chile, Bossuyt will form part of Belgium's team for the Team Pursuit, and race the Omnium and Madison, although not with Kopecky, who is skipping Worlds due to ongoing injury issues.
"At these World Championships, I mainly want to have fun," she said in an interview with Nieuwsblad.
"I can race with an open mind. If I can combine it with good results, that's a bonus. After the Team Pursuit, there's also the Omnium on Friday and the Madison on Saturday. It's a packed program, but I'm really looking forward to it."
Bossuyt returning to the fold will be a boost for Belgium's track squad, who also have a new coach in Tim Carswell, and everyone involved will be hoping the 25-year-old fills some of the gap left by Kopecky, though she emphasised the need to be realistic.
"A good start in the Team Pursuit would give the group a boost, but we have to temper our ambitions now that Lotte Kopecky is not with us," she said about the team event, which starts with qualification on Wednesday.
Despite a two-year setback, during which she missed the Paris Olympics, Bossuyt is looking ahead when it comes to racing, and has made the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 a goal.
Just as she did on a road, Bossuyt will be hoping to deliver a good result on the track, to shift focus onto her current performances rather than her past.
"I have to put the past behind me and look forward," she said. "I'm happy that I can ride the World Track Championships in my comeback year. I'm very happy about that."
