Australian cyclist (born 1999)
Matthew Richardson (born 17 April 1999) is a track cyclist who represented Australia until August 2024 and Great Britain from September 2024 onwards. He competed in the men's keirin, individual sprint and team sprint at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His most successful event was the team sprint, where the Australians came fourth. He also competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics, again in the keirin, individual sprint and team sprint. Here he placed second in the sprint and keirin, missing out on gold in both to Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen. The Australian team also placed third in the team sprint.
Early years.
Richardson was born in Maidstone, Kent in England to English parents and moved to Australia for his father's work when he was nine years old. He grew up in Maidstone and then Warwick, Western Australia. As a result, he has both British and Australian citizenship.
As a teenager, Richardson competed in gymnastics and earned podium results at a national level. However, after suffering an elbow injury he turned his interest to cycling.
Career.
Representating Australia.
Richardson cycled for the Midland Cycling Club. He was invited to attend a 'come 'n' try' session and was recruited to the Western Australian Institute of Sport.
Three months before the 2019 World Championships, Richardson relocated to South Australia to join Cycling Australia's Podium Potential Academy. This move paid dividends as Richardson was selected to represent Australia in the team sprint. The team finished in sixth position and were edged out of the finals by eventual silver medallists, France.
At the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Richardson won a bronze medal in the team sprint with Thomas Cornish and Nathan Hart. It was Australia's highest finish in this event at a World Championships in eight years.
Richardson competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he won gold medals in the team sprint event alongside Leigh Hoffman and Matthew Glaetzer and in the individual sprint event.
Richardson won three medals for Australia at Paris 2024 Olympics; two silver medals in the keirin and the sprint, and a bronze in the team sprint. However, despite representing Australia, it was later revealed that Richardson had already been in discussions to join the Great Britain Cycling Team after the Olympics.
Switch to representating Great Britain.
On 19 August, after the conclusion of the 2024 Olympics, it was announced that Richardson would be leaving the Australian cycling roster and would instead represent Great Britain, the country of his birth, after his application to switch allegiance was accepted by the UCI. This move attracted controversy amongst the Australian cycling community. It was later reported that AusCycling was considering whether it wanted to enforce a two-year non-competition order on Richardson, which would ban him from competing at international track cycling events until 2026. However, in a later statement, AusCycling shared that they would not be pursuing this as it had been deemed legally unenforceable.
Richardson's first event in Great Britain's colours was the 2024 UCI Track Champions League. At the first round in Paris he won both the sprint and the keirin, beating rival Harrie Lavreysen and earning him maximum points.
Personal life.
Richardson's partner is fellow British track cyclist Emma Finucane.
References.
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