The political situation in Ukraine had prevented Hanna Solovey from doing more than a single UCI race all year. Having finally escaped the chaos, she put the chaos behind in today’s World Time Trial Championships to produce a storming ride that earned her a silver medal.

The World Championships are famously known for creating big surprises, with riders turning up from nowhere to suddenly produce medal-winning rides. Today’s team time trial offered another example of this when Hanna Solovey took the silver medal.

With a U23 World Championships title and an 8th place in her debut at the elite championships in 2013, the Ukrainian was certainly a well-known dark horse but none of her competitors knew much about her current form. Due to the chaotic situation in Ukraine, she had only done a single UCI race all season and not been a regular presence at the races that are usually used to gauge the chances of the favourites.

Solovey’s only race was the Chrono Champenois a little more than a week ago and she had shown formidable condition by beating world champion Ellen Van Dijk. However, the Dutchman had gone off course and so few expected Solovey to repeat the feat at the most important race of the year.

However, she produced a storming ride to set the fastest time at both check points before she powered across the line in a time that was clearly faster than her rivals’. Her times at the time checks would remain unbeaten but an excellent finish by Lisa Brennauer relegated Solovey to second.

“It’s my second World Championships in the elite category and I have problems with my country because they have a bad politic,” she said at the post-race press conference. “I have a hard job. This is my first medal in the elite category. I am so happy.”

Despite her good intermediate times, she refuses the suggestion that she had started to believe in a surprise gold medal.

“I knew I would be second because I am so young,” she said with a smile.

The result may have put her on the radar of some of the major teams but for now the political situation makes her future uncertain.

“I don’t know what I will do next year because I have problems in Ukraine,” she said. “I don’t have money in my team because I have problems with my country. I go to the World Championships and that is all I know. I live this day because I live in Lugansk and that city is very dangerous. I think you all know what is happening in Ukraine.”