Just 24 hours after he broke the flying 200m world record, Matthew Richardson returned to the velodrome to beat the benchmark again, setting a new best time of 8.857 seconds.
The track sprinter became the first rider in history to clock under nine seconds in the event on Thursday, doing so inside the velodrome in Konya, Turkey. Afterwards, he said he “rode a lot of it outside the sprint lane” – that is to say, above the black and red lines – and that he had “a bit more” to give.
The 26-year-old lined up another attempt on Friday afternoon and took a further 0.084 seconds off the 8.941 record he set the previous day. His average speed for his latest effort was 81.3kph.
“I knew there was more time on the table after yesterday’s ‘out of sprint lane’ ride, so I knew if I came in with good execution and rode as close to the black as possible, I’d go quicker and that’s what happened,” he said.
“There was more in the tank yesterday, so I was obviously really stoked about yesterday, but I was hungry for more.”
On Thursday, British Cycling booked out the velodrome in Konya, located at 1,200m altitude, for a day of record-hunting. In the morning, Will Bjergfelt smashed the UCI Hour Record in the C5 classification, becoming the first para-cyclist to surpass the 50km barrier. Charlie Tanfield then took on the elite men’s UCI Hour Record, but fell three kilometres short of Filippo Ganna’s benchmark.
The track was also booked out on Friday to allow for second attempts, paving the way for Richardson to have another tilt.
Breaking the record, he said, comes as a “big, big relief”, adding the benchmark is “out of my control now.”
The flying 200m is not a championship medal event, but rather a qualifying effort used to seed riders in the match sprint.
Richardson, who previously represented Australia before switching nationality to his birth country last summer, is the first British man to hold the record in the event.
He rode a custom-painted Hope-Lotus HB.T bike for his attempts, fitted with new 3D-printed handlebars, cranks and forks.
Prior to this week, the flying 200m world record was held by Dutchman and five-time Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen, who set a time of 9.088 seconds at last year’s Paris Olympics.
Richardson won two silver and one bronze medal at the Games riding for Australia.
