Who holds the record for the highest speed on a bicycle (on flat land) at 296 km/h?

Denise Mueller-Korenek holds the cited bicycle speed record of 296.009 km/h on flat land.

She achieved the mark on 16 September 2018 at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, averaging 183.932 mph. The attempt was motor-paced: Mueller-Korenek rode a specially built bicycle behind a high-powered vehicle equipped with a fairing that reduced aerodynamic drag. After being accelerated and towed, she released the tow rope and continued pedaling under her own power.

Her ride surpassed the previous motor-paced record of 268.831 km/h, set by Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg in 1995. Mueller-Korenek had already set the women’s paced bicycle record in 2016, reaching about 237.7 km/h, before returning to challenge the outright mark.

This is not an ordinary unassisted cycling-speed comparison. The record depends on a salt-flat course, a streamlined pace vehicle, specialized gearing, and a carefully controlled slipstream. Chris Boardman and John Howard are famous record-setting cyclists, but neither owns this 296 km/h record.