All ten Olympic events, (sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and omnium all for both men and women) and the non-Olympic men's madison championship and points races for both genders were held as part of the championships. The Championships were a qualification event for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The opening night of competition was marred by technical difficulties, specifically the mechanical breakdown of the fixed gates system. as a result of which all releases reverted to hand or manual releases. This mechanical difficulty caused two German false starts in the Women's Team Pursuit final, and may have played some part in the shock failure of Great Britain to make the medal finals in the Men's Team Sprint event.
Despite this latter mishap, and the early withdrawal of Sir Chris Hoy with illness, the event was dominated by Great Britain, winning seven golds from the ten Olympic events, despite failing to medal in either individual sprint event.
