Matt Richardson became the first man ever to go sub-9 seconds, setting the Men Elite 200m Flying Start world record with a time of 8.941 seconds. Will Bjergfelt broke the 11-year-old Men C5 UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot, covering 51.471km in 60 minutes.

Teammate Charlie Tanfield just missed out on the Men Elite Hour Record, by around six laps, covering 53.967km to become the fourth fastest Brit every to take on the challenge.

Richardson officially fastest on the planet

Matt Richardson has secured his place in the history books by becoming the first man to cycle 200m in under nine seconds, setting a new world record in the process.

Attempt at the Konya Velodrome in Turkiye, Richardson not only took a new world record, knocking Harrie Lavreysen off the top spot with a time of 8.941seconds , becoming the first man to go sub-9 seconds in the process.

Matt Richardson celebrates cycling 200m in 8.941 seconds

Richardson has been targeting the record for a long time, having previously broken it for a few minutes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (9.091 seconds) and coming close again in at the Nations Cup in Konya earlier this year where he hit a time of 9.041 which was later rescinded.

On his achievement, Richardson said:

“I did it, I came here to do that [go sub-9 seconds] and that’s what I did so, it’s a pretty cool feeling to accomplish the one thing that I came out here to do. A bit of relief there."

“It was a lot faster [than I’ve previously ridden], I was basically just a passenger. I gave the bike a bit of direction and it was just steering itself almost. I rode of lot of it outside the sprint lane, so I know there’s a bit more there. "

Reflecting on the effort, he said: “It goes pretty quick. I know this track can be quite a handful out of the corners so I was cautious in those spots but other than that it was just going as hard as I can.”

This achievement makes Richardson the first British man ever to hold the world record in this event.

Bjergfelt beats 11-year-old Hour Record with distance of 51.471km

Will Bjergfelt has set a new world record of 51.471km in the Men C5 UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot, becoming the first para-cyclist to also break the 50km barrier at the same time. Will Bjergfelt takes the C5 Men Hour Record world record

Having trained for the record over the past six months, Bjergfelt kicked off his attempt at a steady pace, with plans to employ a negative split strategy over the hour. Within the first 15 minutes, Bjergfelt had covered almost 13km, with an average speed of 50-51km per hour, a pace he managed to hold onto for the entirety of the hour.

With just over four minutes to go, Bjergfelt smashed through the existing record of 47.569km, giving him space to see how he could stretch the record before the hour was up. And stretch it he did; pushing beyond his personal target of 50km to cover 51.471km in 60 minutes, setting a new Men’s C5 UCI Hour Record by almost 4km.

On his achievement, Bjergfelt said:

“[I feel] amazing, it’s not quite sunk in yet really. Whilst I was going round the track and everyone was cheering at the end there, it started to hit home. I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that I’ve smashed the world record on the track and that’s a dream come true.”

“Coming here with the best equipment; the Hope/Lotus bike, the Renishaw bars, everything else that’s been afforded to me, the Ale custom skin suit, the support that we’ve had from Shell, GBCT, my employers GKN Aerospace where I’ve worked for the past 25 years, this is something that means so much to me.”

On how the effort played out, he said:

“I actually woke up at about four o’clock this morning to the morning prayer and I was thinking about it, originally I was going to go in 10 minute blocks and break it down into six blocks but then when I thought about it through the night, I thought five minute blocks are more what I’m used to in terms of pursuit; it’s what I’ve been doing for GBCT over the years.

“At the same time every third lap I was getting an average split so I was able to really control my pace. My coach Ben Brown sets me best average efforts on my TT bike so those efforts over the past 2.5 years have really played into what I did today where I started steady, built into the effort, sustained it and then got faster towards the end. And I think that’s the perfect way to do an hour.”

Tanfield becomes fourth fastest Brit in Men Elite Hour Record

Charlie Tanfield attempts the Men Elite UCI Hour Record

Charlie Tanfield also stepped up to test his mettle against the Hour Record, in the men elite category.

Following in the footsteps of British greats such as Bradley Wiggins, and ex-teammate Dan Bigham, Tanfield had 55.548km to beat to take a British record and 56.792km to topple the world record holder Fillipo Ganna (ITA).

Heading out of the gates fast, Tanfield set a strong pace of around 16.5 seconds a lap, seeing him cover 13.750km in just over 15 minutes, putting him in a strong position to contest the record.

He maintained the pace through the next half of the race, until around 43 minutes in his tempo started to slip ever so slightly. Dropping to around 53km per hour, with over 15km to cover in the final quarter, the record was slipping out of reach.

Unable to pull back the time, Tanfield hit the one hour mark having covered 53.967km, making him the fourth fastest Brit to ever complete the attempt.

Images SWPix