Track cycling: Richardson determined to have no regrets

All out for another rainbow jersey

Matthew Richardson is in full preparation for the 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships, his first wearing Team GB kit after years of representing Australia on the international stage.

While this switch of National Federation after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games surprised more than a few, for the British-born athlete who moved to Australia at the age of nine, it’s a logical step, and one that had been increasingly running through his head.

“As the years went on…. I got to a point where I felt like, I’m mid-career now, and if I was going to do it, now is the best time. It’s just about grabbing opportunities with both hands. And this is another one of those, like getting my first scholarship years and years ago at the State Institute, or getting onto the Australian team, or getting onto the British team… just grabbing opportunities and not letting go is what I’ve been doing my whole career.

“It’s strange [riding for another country], but then again, I still ride in circles for a living. I still do the sport I love, but just in a different place.

He continues: “I’m the cyclist I am today because of the opportunities that I was given in Australia, and I’m forever grateful. But it’s my career and I don’t want to wake up one day and go‘what if’?

“The pain is only temporary, but the regret of not trying as hard as you could in a race and losing it…”

His “no regrets” philosophy is the same in training and racing, where he pushes himself to the limits. Next week, on 14 August, he will attempt to become the first cyclist to break the 9 second barrier for the 200m flying start and claim the world record back from the Netherlands’ Harrie Lavreysen. He will make his attempt in Konya, Turkey, on the same velodrome where he won two gold medals for Great Britain at the UCI Track Nations Cup in March this year.

Despite his illustrious career so far – including two silver medals (sprint and keirin) and one bronze (team sprint) at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Richardson has “only” won one rainbow jersey of UCI World Champion: in the team sprint at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, in 2022. He has podiumed several times since 2020 (a bronze medal and three silvers) but is hungry for another victory.

“I don’t put my body and my mind and everything through this much stress and work to come second… the ultimate goal is to win the rainbow bands. I’ve been trying really hard at that for the last couple of years and only won it once. (When I won) I put that jersey straight in a frame and hung it up on my wall. I looked at it every morning when I woke up and every night before I went to bed.

“It’s a great feeling, and I haven’t won one since. They’re super hard to come by. Harry [Lavreysen] might disagree but that are very hard to win.”

The 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Santiago, Chile (22-26 October) will be Richardson’s next opportunity to go for the rainbow jersey: “I’m always trying to figure out a way of how I can get on that top step. And that will never stop. And if I do get on that top step, I’m going to figure out how to stay there.”

Again, he wants to be sure he has no regrets.

“Your body can’t do it forever. Everyone’s career comes to an end at some point, whether it’s when you’re 25 or 45. It’s going to happen one day. And I don’t want to regret not trying as hard as I possibly could with the time that I had. I want to finish my career and think, ‘yeah, I gave it absolutely everything’ … and then move on to something else in my life and give that 100%.”

Listen to more from Matthew Richardson in this video: