Matthew Richardson has expressed “contrition” after being withdrawn from the World Track Cycling Championships amid an investigation into his conduct since his defection from Australia to Great Britain.
Richardson, the boyfriend of Team GB Olympic gold medallist Emma Finucane, was expected to return home from China after missing team sprint training on Monday, with British Cycling later issuing a statement confirming he would not be competing.
The Times subsequently reported it had seen evidence of Richardson apparently making discriminatory remarks about people from minority backgrounds and even joking about his use of the N-word. Telegraph Sport has not independently verified the messages.
Richardson issued his own statement on Tuesday, saying: “I understand the seriousness of what has been raised in recent reports about my withdrawal from the 2026 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
“British Cycling has said it looks into matters like this through its established procedures. I will co-operate fully with its processes. I assure everyone that I will do so properly, and appropriately and with contrition for the feelings of anyone who might be affected.
“Out of fairness to everyone involved, and on advice, like British Cycling, I will not be commenting further until any process is complete. I am deeply disappointed to miss the World Championships, and I wish the Great Britain team and every rider competing the very best. I ask that my family’s privacy is respected at this time.”
British Cycling declined to comment further, having issued a prior statement in response to inquiries about his behaviour towards other riders, including alleged remarks he appeared to have made.
“British Cycling takes any allegations of harassment, bullying or discrimination extremely seriously,” its earlier statement said. “Where concerns are raised, they are investigated thoroughly through our established procedures. Out of fairness to anyone involved in an investigation, we would not comment on any ongoing process.”
Telegraph Sport has approached representatives of Richardson for comment.
Richardson, 27, was born in Maidstone, Kent, before moving to Australia aged nine because of his father’s job.
After winning three medals at Paris 2024, at which he was pipped to sprint and keirin gold by the Netherlands’ Harrie Lavreysen, he switched allegiance to the country of his birth.
Last year, Richardson became the first cyclist to break the nine-second barrier for the men’s flying 200 metres time trial world record.
He went on to win sprint and team sprint silver at the world championships before turning the tables on Lavreysen at February’s European Championships.
He was one of Britain’s major medal hopes in China this week and had been put up for media interviews by British Cycling before travelling to Shanghai.
Richardson began a relationship with Finucane in January 2024, although it is unclear what effect this had on his decision to compete for Britain.
The switch resulted in Australia’s former world champion Katherine Bates claiming some athletes at AusCycling were “feeling a little bit ripped off”.
Richardson had previously told Telegraph Sport he was “hugely grateful” to everyone at AusCycling for its support over the years and “would never want to disrespect” Australia.
But he said he had grown up a supporter of Team GB and that it gradually dawned on him that he would regret it forever if he did not try to pursue his dream. Richardson added that he expected a certain amount of backlash in Australia, but that he hoped his friends and team-mates would understand why it was so important to him.
“I expect people to be unhappy or disappointed or sad, or, you know, frustrated or whatever the emotion is,” he said. “It’s understandable. But, yeah, I’ll try and keep everything as positive as possible. Otherwise it will kind of eat away at me a little bit.”
He added: “I just kind of felt this sense of, you know, seeing the British team compete and going ‘Oh, that would be [amazing]… That feels like my country.’ It’s just been a thing for the last seven years, something I’ve always kept in the back of my mind.”
