Matt Richardson has mixed memories of the Commonwealth Games but that hasn’t fazed the world’s fastest cyclist one bit as he prepares to make his Team England debut.

He grew up Down Under and watched the 2018 Games as an Australian junior, fresh from abandoning a promising gymnastics career due to an elbow injury, before storming to two gold medals four years and 10,000 miles later on the track in Birmingham.

But in 2024, he swapped Australia's green and gold for the crisp red and white of Team England and this summer in Glasgow will be his first multi-sport event appearance for the country of his birth.
He said: “At Birmingham 2022, I was racing for Australia but in the UK. I had more friends and family come and watch me than at any other race that I had ever had.

“It was a great atmosphere in that velodrome. The last Commonwealth Games almost didn't feel like an away Commonwealth Games. It almost felt like home to me.”

Richardson dominated the cycling programme in Birmingham, scooping gold medals in both the individual and team sprint and beating all British opposition.

Two years later, he won three medals at the Paris Olympics to cement his reputation as one of the world’s best, but shocked the cycling world by announcing a switch to Great Britain, qualifying since his family had relocated from Kent when he was nine years old.

But Richardson’s greatest inspiration is neither an Australian nor an Englishman, but the Scot whose name graces the Glasgow Velodrome.

“Chris Hoy has always been my idol on and off the bike,” Richardson said.

“My first memory of the Olympics is watching Chris win the keirin in Beijing in 2008 so he's always been at the forefront of my mind when it came to track cycling. 

“I love racing in the Chris Hoy Velodrome. The track itself has its little differences. It makes it a slightly different style of racing. The straights are very long for starters so that can change the dynamic of racing because opponents have more time to pass from behind. That can catch you out sometimes if you're not careful. 

“The 200-metre line is quite late in the corner, so the line you would take in a flying 200 needs to be slightly different to maximise it.”

At the 2025 Nations Cup in Konya, Turkey, Richardson maximised the flying 200 more than any human in history, as he flew to a scarcely credible world record of 8.857 seconds.

He said: “To go there and do exactly what I wanted to do was really, really special.

“Whether it was here riding for GB or for Australia, that will always be one of the absolute top-tier highlights of my career. To make history and still be the only rider to go sub-nine seconds is really special to me.”

Richardson didn’t stop there. The 27-year-old clinched two silver medals at the World Track Cycling Championships in Santiago last year and became the first British man to win a European sprint title back in Konya earlier this year. And a first Olympic Games with Great Britain beckons in Los Angeles in 2028.

He said: “The Commonwealth Games are so special because it's the only time that I get to represent England once every four years.

“The form I've been carrying recently puts me in a good place for this year and beyond. It's all about the momentum I'm trying to carry going into the Los Angeles Olympics.”

Team England are Ready to Win at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Keep up to date on https://teamengland.org/