Matthew Richardson breaks world record, UCI rules it out

Great Britain’s Matthew Richardson thought he had broken the world record in the flying 200m time trial on Sunday morning, before his effort was scored off by the UCI.

The Olympic silver medallist clocked 9.041 seconds in qualifying for the men’s sprint competition at the UCI Track Nations Cup round in Konya, Turkey, holding an average speed of 79.637km/h. His time took 0.047 seconds off the world record (9.088 seconds), set by Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and appeared to nudge the benchmark closer to the elusive 9-second mark.

After an investigation, however, it was ruled that Richardson's effort was not valid because he strayed beneath the blue band, onto the 'apron', an out-of-bounds area. The UCI decided to void the world record time, but allowed Richardson's first-place qualifying position to stand.

He went on to win the sprint competition, beating GB teammate Harry Ledingham-Horn 2-0 in the final.

It is the second time the 25-year-old's world record hopes have been short-lived. At the Paris Olympics last August, Richardson broke the record in qualifying, holding it for a matter of minutes before he was bettered by Lavreysen.

The flying 200m is a qualification event, whereby riders circle the track for three laps to get up to speed, before bombing down the banking for a timed 200m effort.

On Saturday, China’s Yuan Liying broke the world record in the women's event, becoming the first woman in history to go below the 10-second barrier. The 19-year-old stopped the clock at 9.976 seconds in her flying lap, a speed of 72.173km/h. Like Richardson, Liying went on to win the gold medal.

This weekend’s track competition in Konya was the only UCI Nations Cup round of the season, and marked the first major international event held at the Konya Velodrome, opened in 2022.

The wooden track in Konya boasts a steeper banking than most Olympic velodromes. Its turns are pitched at 45.5°, more than 3° steeper than the standard, and 1.7° steeper than the Paris Olympic velodrome, which is known to be a good hunting ground for records.

A steeper banking is beneficial for flying 200m efforts, as it allows riders to pick up more speed as they drive from the top of the track down to the black line.

Having switched allegiances from Australia after the Paris Olympics, Richardson made his international debut for the Great Britain Cycling Team at the competition in Turkey. He won gold in the team sprint on Friday, alongside Ledingham-Horn and Harry Radford, before beating the former to win the individual sprint.

"It's a pretty special feeling," Richardson said on Sunday evening. "I've won World Cups before, so it's not a new feeling, but it's still one I'm very proud of. It was a long day here today – the sprint day's always a really tough one being the third day of racing – but it was hard for everyone. I was just glad I got it done in the end."