Matthew Richardson to try and become 'fastest cyclist of all time' with world record attempt

Olympic silver medallist Matthew Richardson is going to attempt to become the “fastest cyclist of all time” by breaking the 200m flying lap world record.

The track sprinter will try to beat the record at an event specially organised by British Cycling at the Konya Velodrome in Turkey next week. Two other British riders will also attempt world records; Charlie Tanfield will go for the UCI Hour Record, set by Filippo Ganna in 2022, and para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt will try the same in the C5 category.

The benchmark for Richardson to beat in the flying 200m is 9.088 seconds – a speed of 79.2kph – currently held by Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, and set at last summer’s Paris Olympics. Richardson hopes to be the first person in history to go below the nine-second barrier.

“For me, it’s a bit of a race between Harrie and I to be the first person to do it,” the 26-year-old said. “It’s been on my radar for the last couple of years, as the world’s gotten a bit closer to going low nines. Obviously we both did 9.0s at the Olympics, so I think it’s kind of a race now to who does it first.”

Richardson previously held the record for a brief moment in qualifying at the 2024 Olympics, where he represented Australia and won two silvers and a bronze medal. “Literally about 30 seconds later I watched Harrie go round the track and I was like, ‘And it’s gone’,” he said. Richardson went on to switch his racing nationality to British after the Games.

The ultimate motivation behind the world record attempt is to become “the fastest track cyclist of all time,” he explained. “But what’s motivated it to be right now is that sort of race, because I think it’s going to happen at some point. Once someone goes sub-nine, they’ll be the first person to ever do that forever. Records get beaten all the time, but barriers stay with that person.”

The velodrome in Konya, located at 1,200m altitude, was opened in 2022, and hosted its first international competition this March in a round of the UCI Track Nations Cup. During the event, Richardson appeared to set a new world record in the flying 200m, before his effort was scored off by the UCI for straying off the track, beneath the blue band.

From the experience, Richardson learned that the track is “pretty optimal” for a flying effort. “Shape wise, it’s really wide, which makes it a fast track,” he said. “We realised how quick that track was, and how fast it can be, especially for what I wanted to do.”

Richardson will attempt the record on a Hope-Lotus HB.T bike designed for the Great Britain Cycling Team at the Paris Olympics. Hope has also developed a custom wide fork for the sprinter, while Renishaw has made him custom handlebars, a seatpost and cranks.

If Richardson breaks the record, he will be the first British rider in history to hold it.

“I want extra goals, extra things to chase – that’s what this is to me,” he said. “It has a nice ring to it as well. Being the fastest track discipline, there are no caveats to it afterwards. It’s not that you’re the fastest time triallist, or the fastest cyclist in X discipline – in a flying 200m, you reach the highest peak speed possible on a track. It’s just cool if I do it to be able to call myself the fastest of all time.

“In my mind, nothing’s ever a done deal, but I’m pretty confident that I’m in a really good place to get the job done.”

British Cycling's record-hunting event will take place next Thursday 14 August, and is principally supported by Shell. There will be no live broadcast of the two Hour Records, but Richardson’s flying 200m will be streamed on Instagram at 2:30pm UK time. If he does not break it, he will be able to complete multiple further attempts.