‘British cycling is like Hogwarts, it’s got everything I need’: Meet the Australian Commonwealth champion who is reaping rewards of defecting to England… and admits being closer to his girlfriend is a nice bonus!

Back on his family farm in Australia, Matt Richardson has a 22-seat school bus locked up in one of the stables.

‘There’s an owl that lives on top of it, he kills all the rats and stops them chewing through the wires,’ explains the England cyclist, who is favourite for gold in Glasgow this week.

‘It’s a Toyota Coaster Bus and it’s an absolute tank. I bought it a few years ago to convert into a camper van but I haven’t got round to it yet. I keep it away from the elements in the shed. If you take care of it, they’re known to do a million kilometres.’

Richardson, it is fair to say, is not a conventional character.

So perhaps it is little surprise that he made the radical decision to switch racing allegiance from Australia to England after winning three medals at the 2024 Olympics.

The 27-year-old was born Maidstone, Kent, but moved Down Under aged nine when his father was offered a job promotion with IKEA. He carved out an impressive track career for Australia – winning gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games – but his dual citizenship tested his loyalties.

… after winning Olympic silver for Australia in the men’s keirin in Paris in 2024

‘I’m always looking for more, whether that’s more weight in the gym, more efforts on track or creating more opportunities for myself,’ he explains. ‘Your career only lasts so long and I’ve been wired to really extract every opportunity out of the time that I have.

‘Whether that’s building a camper van to enjoy later in life, or moving country to try and maximise my career. I get bored very easily, so I’m always setting myself a new goal. Something to keep myself on my toes. A self-inflicted challenge. We always have challenges in World Champs and World Cups but it’s not enough, I want a little bit more. The Olympics only comes every four years so you want to keep it different year on year.’

Having a Welsh girlfriend, Emma Finucane – a fellow Olympic medallist – certainly helped with Richardson’s decision. Finucane will wear Welsh colours this week before they come together under the Team GB banner for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

‘British cycling is an incredible place,’ says Richardson. ‘I’ve said this before: Aus cycling was like high school and British cycling is like Hogwarts. It’s incredible, it’s big, it’s magical. I have everything I need at my fingertips to be the best possible athlete I can be. There’s more resources, the equipment’s incredible, we have a wind tunnel next door. No expense is spared.

Richardson was back in Australia as an English competitor at the Track World Cup in Perth in March

‘The bike I ride here is a lot better. It’s fast, it’s stiff, it’s everything I need to break a world record. Whenever we travelled to a race from Adelaide, we had to take multiple flights. The European guys land in on the same day and have no jet lag. Things like that make a really big difference. It’s all on me now. There are no external factors.

‘Of course, being closer to your girlfriend is an added bonus. We live together in Manchester. It rains a little bit more than Australia but luckily I do an indoor sport!’

In a world of marginal gains, the benefits are already starting to show. Richardson became the first rider to break the nine-second barrier on the 200 metres flying lap last August, before finally beating his Dutch nemesis, Harrie Lavreysen, in February.

He has been able to pick the brains of Sir Chris Hoy and even spoken to Formula One superstar Lando Norris over lunch. ‘I guess there’s a shared element of danger with F1. We race shoulder to shoulder sometimes at 80kmh. You have a lot of adrenaline coursing through your veins but ultimately they are very different sports. As a kid I always enjoyed watching things that were dangerous. I loved nitrocircus. They have a mega ramp and launch motorbikes off it doing double backflips and crazy aerial tricks. I have a motorbike here in the UK.’

Richardson with his girlfriend Emma Finucane, an Olympic gold-medal-winning cyclist for Great Britain who is competing for Wales at these Commonwealths

But it has come at a cost. Richardson has made himself Public Enemy No 1 in the Australian camp. He will be branded a turncoat and a traitor, despite allegiance switches becoming commonplace in international sport. In the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome this week, former Australia team-mate, Leigh Hoffman, will be one of his biggest rivals.

‘I knew it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows,’ he says. ‘You can’t make everyone happy. I was super stoked to have won two golds for Australia at the last Commonwealths. I was living in the moment and not really thinking about the next Games. 

‘But if someone had a crystal ball and said “In the next Commonwealth games, you’re going to be riding for England” then I wouldn’t have been that surprised. It was always a thing that I wanted to do.

‘The year before the Olympics, I was looking at the next four years, thinking what that could look like. If I was going to do it then now was the time. Waiting another Olympics would have been too late. The reaction is probably what I expected. But also, the way it rolled out for myself is what I expected. It’s been amazing from the onset.’

With a new support team behind him, Richardson is pedalling forward with grand ambitions. ‘My goal is to win gold at the Commonwealth Games, win gold at the World Championships. 

‘I’ve been chasing that individual sprint world title for a few years now. I feel like I’m in the form to do that this year – and I want to carry all the momentum I can into LA.’