# Richardson is first man to break the 9-second barrier

*By Simon | August 14, 2025*

![Richardson is first man to break the 9-second barrier](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/AW7_4189.jpg)

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![](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/AW7_4189-jpg.webp)

## 󠀁[Richardson is first man to break the 9-second barrier](https://globalkeirin.com/2025/08/richardson-is-first-man-to-break-the-9-second-barrier/)󠁿

14 August 2025

Great Britain sprinter
[Matthew Richardson](https://globalkeirin.com/rider/matthew-richardson/) has
become the first man to go under 9 seconds for a flying 200 metre effort, in a
specially arranged record attempt in Turkey.

Richardson returned to the high-altitude Konya velodrome where he had previously
gone faster than
[Harrie Lavreysen](https://globalkeirin.com/rider/harrie-lavreysen/)‘s
[Paris Olympics world record](https://globalkeirin.com/2024/08/lavreysen-sets-new-world-record-for-200m-in-olympic-sprint-qualifying/)
of 9.088 – only to see his effort
[ruled out as a record for having clearly ridden on the safety zone](https://globalkeirin.com/2025/03/photo-from-konya-appears-to-explain-richo-refusal/)
on the inside of the track.

![Men Elite 200m Flying Start Record Attempt](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/AW7_3732-1125x750.jpg)

_Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com_

Richardson – riding a silver and black Hope HB.T bike with front and rear discs,
Princeton and Campagnolo respectively, plus 3D-printed components from Renishaw
– posted a time of 8.941 seconds. This gave him an average speed for the effort
of 80.527 kilometres per hour, a fraction over 50 miles per hour.

He was remarkably consistent across today’s effort, with a split for the first
100m of 4.471 – and a time for the second half of 4.470.

![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8tVI-1fuwt8/maxresdefault.jpg)

Having switched sporting allegiance from Australia to Great Britain following
last summer’s Olympics, Richardson is in the remarkable position of holding two
continental records, Europe and Oceania, as well as two national records.

## ‘Me vs me’

But just a couple of hours afterwards, Richardson revealed he plans to come back
24 hours later, to do it all again. ‘you thought I was done?? Noooooooooo sir,’
he wrote [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DNV_-dlMxKS/). ‘Tomorrow I
will try and break my own wr. Me vs me. Let’s have it.’

Speaking after his effort on Thursday, Richardson had said: ‘I rode of lot of it
outside the sprint lane, so I know there’s a bit more there.’

A successful second attempt would match the feat of France’s **Kévin Sireau**,
who set two records in two days at Moscow’s 333m track in May 2009

![Men C5 UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/AW7_2835-1125x750.jpg)

_Delight for Bjergfelt (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)_

Earlier in the day, British para-cyclist **Will Bjergfelt** had set a new world
hour record in the C5 class. The 46 year old’s distance of 51.471km smashed a
record which had stood for over a decade.

‘There’s been so much hard work put in by so many people,’ he wrote afterwards
[on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DNVZZbxs3s7/?hl=en). ‘I’m proud of
everyone including myself for delivering.’

But **Charlie Tanfield** came up short in his ambitious attempt to beat
**Filippo Ganna**‘s overall hour best, recording a valiant 53.967km – which puts
him below countrymen **Bradley Wiggins**, **Alex Dowsett** and **Dan Bigham** in
the history book.

## Men’s flying 200 records (open era)

| Date | Rider | Country | Time | Track |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 06.08.1990 | Vladimir Adamachvili | URS | 10.099 | Moscow |
| 28.09.1995 | Curt Harnett | CAN | 9.865 | Bogota 󠀁_(outdoor)_󠁿 |
| 16.12.2006 | Theo Bos | NED | 9.772 | Moscow |
| 29.05.2009 | Kévin Sireau | FRA | 9.650 | Moscow |
| 30.05.2009 | Kévin Sireau | FRA | 9.572 | Moscow |
| 06.12.2013 | François Pervis | FRA | 9.347 | Aguascalientes |
| 04.09.2019 | Nicholas Paul | TTO | 9.100 | Cochabamba |
| 07.08.2024 | Harrie Lavreysen | NED | 9.088 | Paris |
| 󠀁_14.08.2025_󠁿 | 󠀁_Matthew Richardson_󠁿 | 󠀁_GBR_󠁿 | 󠀁_8.941_󠁿 | 󠀁_Konya_󠁿 |

_Source: UCI #_

Note: UCI rules state that ‘a record beaten the same day shall not be confirmed’
– so Richardson’s 9.091 at the Paris Olympics, a few minutes before Lavreysen’s
9.088, did not make the official list.

**Categories:** Original
**Tags:** paris2024