Great Britain celebrated two remarkable achievements in track cycling on Thursday, as Matt Richardson and Will Bjergfelt each set new world records at the Konya Velodrome in Turkey. The special event, backed by British Cycling, was designed to give riders a shot at historic performances, and it delivered in style, even if not every target was met.
Richardson, 26, made history by becoming the first cyclist to complete the 200m flying start in under nine seconds. At 8.941s, he shattered the previous record of 9.088 seconds, which had been set by Harrie Lavreysen, a Dutch Olympian, during the Paris Games in 2024. Richardson’s timing was the fastest ever recorded over the distance, at an average of 80.5 km/h, making him the fastest track sprinter in history.
For Richardson, who switched allegiance from Australia to Britain in August 2024 after the Paris Olympics, the performance was the culmination of a long-held ambition. Speaking after the race, he said it was a “pretty cool feeling” to finally go below the nine-second barrier, noting that the speed was so high he felt “basically just a passenger” on the bike. He also admitted there was more potential to improve, having ridden much of the effort outside the sprint lane.
Earlier in the day, Bjergfelt, 46, set a milestone of his own by breaking the men’s C5 hour record. Riding continuously for 60 minutes, he covered 51.471 km, surpassing the previous best of 47.569 km set by Italy’s Andrea Tarlao in 2014. The ride also made him the first paracyclist in history to go beyond the 50-kilometer mark at the event.
In 2015, Bjergfelt was involved in a head-on collision with a car that left him with a shattered right leg and a bleed on the brain. After being classified in the C5 para-cycling category, he returned to competition and became the first para-cyclist to take part in the Tour of Britain in 2021. Last year, he won gold in the C5 road race at the World Championships. Bjergfelt addressed his latest achievement, stating that the magnitude of the record “hadn’t quite sunk in,” though the cheers from the crowd as he finished began to make it feel real.
Located at 1,200 meters above sea level, the high-altitude conditions of Konya Velodrome offered performance advantages for certain events, especially sprints, due to reduced air resistance, making it the ideal place to attempt a new record. Richardson himself had allegedly noted the speed of the track after competing there earlier this year, which helped inspire the joint record-attempt event with British Cycling and its partners.
Not all goals were met, however. Charlie Tanfield, 28, was aiming to break the prestigious UCI Hour Record, currently held by Italy’s Filippo Ganna. Ganna set the benchmark in 2022 with a distance of 56.792 km at the velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. Tanfield, a silver medallist in the team pursuit at the Paris Olympics, began his attempt strongly but faded in the latter stages, ultimately recording 53.967 km.
While short of Ganna’s world record, Tanfield’s effort ranks as the seventh-best in history and makes him the fourth-fastest British rider over the distance, behind Bradley Wiggins, Alex Dowsett, and national record holder Dan Bigham. The attempt was also made under different conditions—at 1,200 m altitude—compared to Ganna’s sea-level record, adding another variable to the challenge.
By the end of the day, British cycling fans had witnessed history in two very different forms. Richardson now stands as the sport’s fastest 200m sprinter, while Bjergfelt has elevated the standard for para-cyclists globally. Even in falling short of his target, Tanfield produced a performance that places him among the best in the event’s history.
