'The gap is definitely closing': Richardson and Glaetzer win silver and bronze at Track Worlds

Australia has claimed two medals on the final day of competition at the 2022 UCI Track World Championships, with Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer winning silver and bronze respectively, in a hotly contested fight for men’s sprint rainbows.

Richardson’s momentum through Day 4 and Day 5 in the earlier sprint rounds came to an end in two match sprints at the hands of Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, who retained his sprint world championship for the fourth successive year.

The Western Australian’s meteoric rise in the sprinting world would have entered another stratosphere had he been able to dethrone Lavreysen to achieve his first individual world championship.

However, the 23-year-old walked out of Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines with his head held high, knowing he threw everything he had at Lavreysen.

“The fight against Lavreysen was one I can still be proud of,” Richardson said.

“Harrie is a world-class bike rider and was definitely going be hard to beat, but I feel like the gap is definitely closing.

“(I) definitely have some work to be done but I think I think this is a good step forward in the lead-up to the next Olympics.”

Richardson’s acceleration has been a huge part of his success throughout the 2022 season and has seen him firmly entrench himself as a bona fide star of the sprinting world.

For Richardson, achieving this status seems an aeon away from the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, wherein he qualified 21st and didn’t make it past the 1/32 stage of the sprint event.

“I think the biggest thing that has contributed to the gains that I’ve made this season has just been a really consistent steady training block from the outset,” Richardson said.

“I came back from the Olympics and just basically got straight back to work on all the things I needed to improve on.

“(There is) definitely more speed to come.

“There are a lot of things I could have done better this season, so I’m looking forward to next year’s plan now to maximise every training session.

“We also have a really hot competitive environment at the moment in the Australian Cycling Team.

“We’ve got three of the top five fastest men at the moment and that drives us all on to be the best.”

Richardson and Glaetzer faced off against each other for a spot in the gold medal final to open Day 5 proceedings in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.

The two big dogs of Australian sprinting had already gone blow for blow the day prior in France, with Glaetzer breaking his own flying 200-metre national record in qualifying with a 9.405, only for Richardson to eclipse that mark within minutes with a 9.381 en route to qualifying second.

The matchup loomed as part two to an electric tussle for the national championship from earlier in the year in Brisbane.

On that occasion, it was Glaetzer who reigned supreme following a relegation to Richardson in the second match sprint.

There would be no such troubles for the young talent overnight, speeding past the 2018 sprint world champion in two match sprints.

Glaetzer then comfortably dispatched Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk in two match sprints in the bronze medal final to win the third sprint world championship medal of his career and complete the perfect set of podium positions.

22-year-old Thomas Cornish also impressed in the men’s sprint competition, qualifying fifth with a new personal best time of 9.527.

The New South Welshmen’s run in the men’s sprint ended at the 1/8 finals stage on Day 4.

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'The gap is definitely closing': Richardson and Glaetzer win silver and bronze at Track Worlds

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Pictures: UCI and Guy Swarbrick