It’s an exciting time just now for women sprinters, with the UCI’s January rule change doubling the distance of the (short) track time trial event from 500 metres to 1 kilometre.

Every competition in this busy winter period offers a new opportunity to set a national, continental or world record, simply because records had never officially existed.

Four women have held the world record since 1 January. France’s Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé was first to claim it, at French nationals on 3 January; her time of 1:08.399 was beaten 23 days later at Belgian nationals, by Marith Vanhove with a 1:07.287.

Ellesse Andrews took the record into new territory three weeks later, with 1:04.697 at the Oceania continental championships in Australia; but that lasted barely a day, as Hetty van de Wouw posted a 1:04.497 at the European championships.

In Malaysia today, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri set a new Asian record of 1:07.137 in qualifying, then went faster still to claim the continental title with a 1:06.229. That would have been a world record, just two weeks ago.

‘For the 500m, the start is crucial, and we focus on maintaining speed through the second lap,’ she said in New Straits Times. ‘But the 1km event demands endurance over three laps — it’s tough. I’m still figuring out the best gear setup.’

Meanwhile, at New Zealand nationals in Invercargill, Ellesse Andrews twice went close – 1:04.625 in qualifying beat her previous mark, but was 0.128s behind van de Wouw’s time. She was just a little slower in the final, 1:04.892.

So far the event has been dominated by sprinters stretching to the longer distance; but it was interesting to see Great Britain experimenting with sprinter Iona Moir and endurance rider Neah Evans at the European championships.

In the qualifying round, Moir went out at blistering pace, setting the day’s fastest time for the opening 250 – but soon paid the price. Her second lap was 15th of the 19 entrants, and by the end, she sat 18th out of 19. Evans finished a respectable 8th overall.

There’s no kilo on the schedule for the UCI Track Nations Cup at Konya, Turkey next month; but there are more national and continental championships in the coming weeks.

Or what about a smaller event, like the British Universities track championships this weekend? Team GB’s Rhian Edmunds, representing Loughborough University, is one of several national and international level riders entered for the kilo. The fun part just now is, you just don’t know.