Matthew Richardson came close to winning an Olympic medal on debut in the men’s team sprint

WAIS graduate Matthew Richardson broke the Olympic Record as he came close to winning an Olympic medal in the men’s team sprint.

Richardson alongside Matt Glaetzer and Nathan Hart broke the Olympic Record on route to finishing fourth, the fourth Games in a row Australia have narrowly missed the podium.

After breezing through qualifying, Australia were too quick for the Russian Olympic Committee in the first round with a 42.103secs to book a spot in the medal ride. Highly favoured to take bronze the trio was off to a flying start courtesy of Richardson, though unfortunately came unstuck with Glaetzer unable to hold the wheel and were forced to settle for fourth.

“It’s a tough one for sure, we came here with the hopes of winning a medal and sometimes you have days like this in sport,” Richardson said.

“We gave it our all and it is what it is. We executed how we wanted with two really fast rides, we were trying to execute the same in the third one and obviously not to be but that was the plan.

“You feel for your teammates and you want them to achieve their goals as well but ultimately we’re all focused on our own task and getting it done.”