Nicky Degrendele

Career Degrendele practiced gymnastics until the age of 15 when, due to back problems, she made the switch to road race cycling. 3 races and a broken elbow later, she decided road racing was not for her. After her father took her to ride a couple laps on a track in Ghent, Belgium and attending initiation lessons in October/November 2011 organised by Cycling Vlaanderen, she made the switch to track cycling.

Success came quickly to Degrendele after that, becoming Belgian Champion in the women's sprint in February 2012. In September of that same year, she started at the Topsportschool in Ghent, Belgium as a boarding student. At her first international championship, the 2013 European Track Championships (under-23 & junior) in Anadia, Portugal, she won 3 medals: silver in the women's sprint and keirin, and bronze in the women's team sprint. A month later, in August 2013, at the 2013 UCI Juniors Track World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, she won silver in the women's sprint.

A year later, Degrendele won her first international title at the 2014 European Track Championships (under-23 & junior), again in Anadia, Portugal, winning gold in the women's keirin. She also win a silver in the women's sprint at the same championships. A couple weeks later, she repeated this performance at the 2014 UCI Juniors Track World Championships in Gwangmyeong, South Korea, becoming world champion in the women's Keirin and finishing 3rd in the women's sprint.

In 2016, the 20 years old Degrendele won silver in the Keirin at both the under-23 European Track Championships and the 2016 UEC European Track Championships for seniors.

2018 saw Degrendele win her first (and so far only) senior world championship title, winning the gold in the Keirin at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Later that year, she took another silver in the Keirin at the 2018 UEC European Track Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The year ended however on a low point when she crashed hard in November during the French leg of the 2018–19 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines that caused her severe headaches, balance and concentration problems every day for two and a half months. 4 years later, she did qualify for the women's sprint and Keirin events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. At the Olympics, she failed to qualify for the A final in the women's keirin competition, having suffered a bad crash in the quarter-finals, and finished 5th in the B Final and 11th overall. Due to her injuries in that crash in the keirin competition, she did not partake in the women's sprint competition.

Early February 2025, on the first night of the 2025 UEC European Track Championships in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, Degrendele announced that she was putting her career on hold as she and her partner were expecting a first child.

Major results

2014 European Junior Track Championships

UCI Juniors Track World Championships

Belgian Xmas Meetings 1st Keirin 1st Sprint 1st Sprint, Grand Prix of Poland (U23) Trofeu Ciutat de Barcelona 2nd Keirin 2nd Sprint 3rd Sprint, International Belgian Open 2015 Revolution – Round 2, Manchester 1st Keirin 1st Sprint International Belgian Open 1st Keirin 3rd Sprint 3rd Keirin, Grand Prix of Poland 3rd Keirin, Trofeu CAR Anadia Portugal Belgian Xmas Meetings 3rd Keirin 3rd Sprint 2016 1st Sprint, Track-Cycling Challenge Grenchen Prova Internacional de Anadia 2nd Keirin 2nd Sprint 2nd Keirin, 6 giorni delle rose – Fiorenzuola 2nd Keirin, Grand Prix of Poland 3rd Keirin, Fenioux Piste International

2017 National Track Championships

1st Keirin, Troféu Internacional de Anadia 2nd Keirin, Belgian International Track Meeting

Fenioux Piste International 3rd Sprint 3rd Keirin 2018

UEC European Under-23 Track Championships

International Belgian Track Meeting 1st Keirin 1st Sprint

2022 National Track Championships