GB’s Richardson wins historic European track gold

Matt Richardson has become the first British man to win the sprint title at the European Track Cycling Championships in Turkey.

Richardson also defeated Dutch rival Harrie Lavreysen in the process, who had not lost in the event since 2019.

Meanwhile, fellow Briton Josie Knight set a new individual pursuit world record on the penultimate day of the event.

Richardson’s showdown with Lavreysen was tense. Having already gone sub-nine seconds in qualifying with 8.963, Richardson narrowly lost the first ride-off race but dominated the second to level the score in the best-of-three contest.

“It was a really hard-fought battle,” said Richardson, who represented Australia until August 2024.

“I’ve been trying to beat Harrie for many, many years, so it’s really satisfying to finally get on that top step [of the podium].”

A gold medallist in 2024, Knight regained the European individual pursuit title as Britain celebrated a double podium, with Millie Couzens taking bronze on her debut.

Knight set a 4km world record of four minutes 19.461 seconds, knocking 4.181 seconds off Vittoria Bussi’s mark from May 2025, before dominating Federica Venturelli in the gold medal ride-off to win in 4:22.353.

The day rounded off a strong showing for Great Britain, with Sophie Capewell finishing fourth in the women’s 1km time trial, and Henry Hobbs coming fourth in the men’s omnium.