{"id":333426,"date":"2025-08-10T15:11:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/333426\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:11:20","slug":"matthew-richardson-on-his-bid-to-become-fastest-cyclist-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/333426\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Richardson on his bid to become fastest cyclist in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like yelling in my head, like I can just hear myself almost screaming.\u201d Matthew Richardson is describing the intensity of the build-up that a sprint cyclist experiences before attempting a 200-metre flying lap, two or three laps around the velodrome pedalling furiously out of the saddle, building towards startling speeds of 86 or 87km\/h before they are timed over the last 200m. One lap, one rider at top speed against the clock. \u201cThen you sit down, you dial into the sprint lane and everything goes quiet, and everyone\u2019s waiting \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, at a velodrome in Konya, Turkey, everyone will be waiting for the clock to register Richardson\u2019s time to see whether he has succeeded in his ambition to become the first rider in history to ride 200m in less than nine seconds. He has gone close before, setting a world record of 9.091sec at the Olympics in Paris last year, but five minutes later the record was broken by Harrie Lavreysen, of the Netherlands, whose 9.088 remains the benchmark Richardson will be seeking to eclipse this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to ride a bike faster than anyone in history,\u201d Richardson, 26, says. \u201cThe world record carries a certain amount of weight, but the sub-nine is the thing I\u2019m really after. It\u2019s never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Richardson, left, alongside Matthew Glaetzer, won three medals for Australia at Paris 2024<\/p>\n

JARED C TILTON\/GETTY<\/p>\n

At the Paris Olympics, where he won two silver medals, both behind Lavreysen, along with a bronze in the team sprint, Richardson was riding for Australia. Just over a week later he shocked the cycling world by announcing that he would be transferring his loyalties to Great Britain, the country of his birth. His family had emigrated from Maidstone to Australia when he was nine, so he held dual citizenship, and the move was made more straightforward by his relationship with Emma Finucane, the new star of British track cycling, who had won a gold and two bronze medals herself in the sprint events in Paris. Following smoothly on from Jason and Laura Kenny, British Cycling had a new golden couple riding in tandem towards the Los Angeles Games in 2028.<\/p>\n

The attempt to break nine seconds over 200m on Thursday comes a year to the week since Richardson\u2019s nationality switch was announced. He has since settled into life in Manchester, training at the National Cycling Centre velodrome, and competing for Britain for the first time at the Nations Cup in March, on the same Konya track where he will be riding this week.<\/p>\n

With Finucane, he has enjoyed a first full British sporting summer. Both fervent Formula 1 fans, the couple attended the British Grand Prix at Silverstone together, then spent a day in the Royal Box at Wimbledon watching the women\u2019s singles final. The royal theme continued when they visited Windsor Castle a fortnight ago for Finucane to collect her MBE.<\/p>\n

It has not all been plain sailing. The switch of nationalities, which he felt would give him a better chance of fulfilling his potential, was highly controversial and he has been banned for life from representing Australia. \u201cI won\u2019t sugarcoat it, it was emotionally exhausting at times,\u201d Richardson said recently. \u201cThere were days I doubted myself, felt isolated, and questioned whether I was mentally strong enough. But I held on to the belief that it was possible and I\u2019m so glad I did. Since moving to Great Britain, I\u2019ve found an environment that challenges me, inspires me and pushes me to be the absolute best version of myself. I\u2019ve met people who believe in me and I\u2019ve unlocked levels of resilience I didn\u2019t know I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Selfie<\/p>\n

Finucane and Richardson swap the Manchester velodrome for the Royal Box at Wimbledon<\/p>\n

His attempt to break nine seconds this week will be a measure of just how far he has progressed in his first year. One person helping him along the way is Jason Kenny, the seven-times Olympic champion who is now a sprint coach at the Manchester velodrome. Richardson was present at the Tokyo Games when Kenny won his seventh gold medal and he has to pinch himself now that he is working with a former idol. \u201cBeing coached by him now, someone that not that long ago I was trying to get his autograph, is obviously really cool,\u201d Richardson says. \u201cI was there in the building when he won his seventh gold medal in the keirin. To now be going for a record like this with his guidance and his support is obviously awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also bought fully into the ethos demanding attention to detail that famously underpinned British Cycling\u2019s successes on the track and, in Turkey this week, he will be riding what he describes as a \u201crocket ship\u201d of a bike. \u201cYeah, I\u2019ve been dialling in on all those marginal gains,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe bike, the suit, the equipment. But [the record] is not going to get broken if I don\u2019t execute and if I\u2019m not in good form.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Olympic competition, the flying lap \u2014 so-called because of the riders\u2019 2\u00bd-lap build up, rather than a standing start \u2014 is used in qualifying for the knockout individual sprint. The velodrome at Konya has been chosen for its location at an altitude of 1,200m. Two other British cyclists will be attempting to achieve new landmarks in the same velodrome on Thursday: Charlie Tanfield for the elite hour record and Will Bjergfelt for the C5 para-cycling hour record.<\/p>\n

As he strains to wind up towards top speed, and those \u201cscreaming\u201d noises begin to enter his head, Richardson will expect to be pumping about 2,100 watts through the pedals before he settles into prime aerodynamic position for that final 200m. \u201cThe peak speed would be 85, 86, 87km\/h,\u201d he says. \u201cTo average 80, it\u2019s not slow. Thirty years ago was the first time someone went sub-ten [seconds]. I\u2019ve spoken to people that raced in the Eighties and they thought sub-ten was impossible. Not too long ago we were probably saying the same thing [about sub-nine], yet here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that sense of quiet enveloping his mind at top speed, the first indication of his progress will come with the 100m split time on the back straight. Beyond the barriers in the velodrome, Finucane and family members will be cheering him on, and there will be no sense of quiet if he completes the 200m in less than nine seconds. \u201cIt means a lot, having them there and sharing these moments, so Emma\u2019s coming out and my dad as well,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s really important to me, because this could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s almost like yelling in my head, like I can just hear myself almost screaming.\u201d Matthew Richardson is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-333426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115005114709416578","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}