Matt Richardson, 25, will join the British cycling team just weeks after winning three Olympic medals for Australia.
At the Paris Games, Richardson won silver in the individual sprint and keirin, as well as bronze in the team sprint. Born in England, he moved to Western Australia at the age of nine and has now returned to the UK to live permanently, while retaining his dual nationality.
‘I’ve decided to reorganise my life and move to the other side of the world to start the next chapter of my cycling career’, said Richardson, whose change of nationality has been approved by the UCI, cycling’s governing body.
‘It is with great excitement and renewal that I announce that I am joining the British Cycling Team. Changing nationality has been a difficult decision, taken after careful consideration of my career and my future’, he added.
Jesse Korf, AusCycling’s executive director of performance, described the decision as a ‘surprise’ and said he was ‘disappointed’ that Richardson was leaving a programme that has brought him great personal and national success.
Richardson also won two gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has five world championship medals to his name, including gold in the team sprint in 2022.