Matthew Richardson claimed the UEC European keirin championship for 2026 in sensational style, snatching a last-gasp victory over his perennial rival Harrie Lavreysen, with Lowie Nulens sandwiched between them for third.

Returning to the Konya velodrome where he set his flying 200 world record last August, Richardson had defeated Lavreysen the previous evening, with their sprint final going to a decisive third ride.

He went through Thursday’s keirin competition with a perfect record, winning his first round by almost half a second – remarkable at this level, then posting the fastest last-200 time of the day to win his semi.

In the final, Richardson and Harry Ledingham-Horn sat patiently at the rear of the line as the pacer left the track – and Lavreysen could not resist the opportunity to attack immediately from the front, opening up huge gaps between the riders.

TV commentator Carlton Kirby declared the race over with a lap left – ‘this is theft almost… brilliant work by Harrie Lavreysen, he wanted revenge and he’s going to get it here, he’s going to be European champion.’

But into the final lap, Richardson came out of the second corner with remarkable speed, making up huge amounts of ground on the leaders – and only passing Lavreysen at the very last moment.

‘That was probably one of the toughest keirins I’ve ever won,’ Richardson said afterwards. ‘I’ve had some very hard keirins, but I normally don’t win them. I drew 6, Harrie drew 1, and he took advantage of that situation. I knew straight away that this was going to be an extremely hard race.

‘I just waited, bided my time, and struck when I thought it was right – and luckily I had the legs for the finish.’

It’s the first time since 2018 that Lavreysen has gone to a major championship, and not brought home a gold. ‘That takes some getting used to,’ he admitted. ‘I wasn’t in my top form here and that was conscious because I’m saving it for the World Cup in China this year. It is difficult to be at my very best at every major tournament.’

The day’s women’s event was missing several star names, with sprint gold and silver medallists Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell both deciding to skip the event.

Like Richardson, individual neutral athlete Alina Lysenko also posted a perfect record on the day – awarded first place in her first round, although she was given the same time as the resurgent Mathilde Gros; and then taking her semi final ahead of Steffie van der Peet and Helena Casas Roige.

The Russian rider swooped to take the lead in the final with Gros following in her wake; she had a substantial gap at the line, with the French rider holding off Lea Sophie Friedrich by a few centimetres.