Thomas Cornish

Thomas Cornish began as an all-round junior cyclist on road and track, but he soon carved out his niche in the sprint events on the velodrome.

His sprinting ability reached the international stage in 2018, when he broke the junior world record and won gold in the kilometre time trial at the UCI Junior Track World Championships. Cornish also won silver in the sprint.

After graduating to the elite level, the Sydney rider moved to Adelaide to continue his development with the Australian Cycling Team Podium Potential Academy.

In 2020, he won his first elite world championship medal, taking bronze in the team sprint alongside Matthew Richardson and Nathan Hart.

2021 saw Cornish break the 60-second barrier in the time trial as he defended his elite men’s national title. That edition of TrackNats also saw Cornish spectacularly lead New South Wales to victory with a scintillating last lap.

In 2022, Cornish won Australia’s first-ever gold in the new UCI Track Nations Cup, riding alongside Richardson and Leigh Hoffman in the team sprint in Glasgow. Later that year, Cornish won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 1km time trial.

Towards the end of 2022, Cornish became a world champion when Australia beat the Netherlands in the team sprint, putting an end to the nation's decade-long absence from the top step of the podium. Cornish was also part of the silver-medal winning teams at the 2023 and 2024 world championships.

Despite his successes in the sprint events, including a bronze medal in the time trial at the 2023 world championships, Cornish missed selection to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

He then embarked on a remarkable journey to turn himself into an endurance rider. In early 2026, Cornish's metamorphosis began to pay dividends when he became the Oceania scratch race champion.