Matthew Glaetzer

A four-time Olympian, three-time world champion and five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist as of 2024 – there is no doubt that Matthew Glaetzer will go down as one of the greats of Australian track cycling.

Glaetzer began his junior sporting career with a national championship silver medal in the pole vault at age 14. However, injury forced the Adelaide youngster into a new sport, and after choosing triathlon and excelling on the bike, he decided to join Central Districts Cycling Club.

Just six months later, the emerging sprinter represented Australia at the 2009 UCI Junior Track World Championships, and by the end of 2010 he had won two junior world titles.

Glaetzer celebrated success in the elite ranks with a maiden elite rainbow jersey in the team sprint (with Scott Sunderland and Shane Perkins) at the 2012 World Championships in Melbourne.

Making his Olympic debut at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Australian team of Glaetzer, Sunderland and Perkins was narrowly beaten for bronze by Germany by 0.146 seconds.

Glaetzer added 2014 Commonwealth Games gold (keirin) and bronze (team sprint) to his growing list of achievements before claiming sprint silver at the 2016 World Championships.

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Glaetzer finished fourth in the sprint, fourth in the team sprint (with Patrick Constable and Nathan Hart) and tenth in the keirin.

In 2018, he achieved a memorable victory at the World Championships in Germany to claim his first sprint world title and took silver in the time trial. Glaetzer added two gold (keirin and time trial) and a bronze (team sprint with Hart and Constable) at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

In November 2019, Glaetzer was diagnosed with thyroid cancer one month after undergoing surgery to remove the cancerous growth, and he claimed multiple medals during the 2019/20 World Cup season

At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Glaetzer finished fourth in the team sprint (with Matthew Richardson and Hart) and fifth in the keirin.

His 2022 started brightly, winning back both the sprint and keirin national titles from Richardson.

In August at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Glaetzer won the fourth Commonwealth Games gold medal of his career in the team sprint alongside Richardson and Leigh Hoffman. The trio set a new national record and Commonwealth Games record to win gold. He would controversially be relegated from a bronze medal to fourth in the sprint but rebounded to win his fifth Commonwealth gold medal in the 1000m time trial.

Two months later, Glaetzer won his second team sprint world championship with Richardson, Hoffman and Thomas Cornish. Glaetzer, Richardson and Hoffman set the current national record of 41.600 to win rainbows. He would finish with a bronze medal in the sprint.

A year later in Glasgow, Australia’s team sprint rivalry with the Dutch continued in favour of the Oranje as Glaetzer, Richardson, Hoffman and Cornish were forced to settle for silver at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. Glaetzer would also go on to win a silver medal in the 1000m time trial in a new and current national record time of 58.526.

Glaetzer competed at a home UCI Track Nations Cup in Adelaide in February of 2024, winning gold in the team sprint and bronze in the sprint.

He earned selection to his fourth Olympic Games at Paris 2024, becoming the third Australian track sprinter to do so behind Shane Kelly’s five and joining Gary Neiwand on four.

In Paris, Glaetzer, Ricardson and Hoffman won bronze in the men's team sprint. It was Australia's first Olympic medal in the event in 20 years. After struggling to get onto the wheel in the early rounds, Glaetzer took over the starter's position in the bronze-medal final, and the change yielded success when they defeated the home French team.

Glaetzer then added an individual Olympic medal to his trophy cabinet when he finished third in the men's keirin. In the final, a crash on the last bend saw three of his rivals tumble to the boards, but Glaetzer stayed upright to win a dramatic bronze.

Glaetzer married his wife Nicole in the summer of 2023.

Club: Central Districts Cycling Club