KONYA – Great Britain’s Matt Richardson finally toppled the ‘unbeatable’ Harrie Lavreysen to take his first ever European jersey in the men’s sprint. Josie Knight set a new individual pursuit world record before snatching the title while teammate Millie Couzens took bronze in the same event. 

On the penultimate day of racing, Great Britain sits top of the leaderboard with six European titles, three silver and two bronze medals. 

Men’s sprint  

Having become the first man to go under the nine second barrier in the men’s 200m flying start in 8.857 seconds, Richardson was the only man in qualifying at the championships to go sub-nine again.

In the gold medal ride-off, Richardson put pressure on Lavreysen in the first race, just narrowly missing out on the win.

By the second race, Richardson took control from the off, blocking Lavreysen’s overtake attempts to create a clear path to victory for himself. The first time he’s ever beaten Lavreysen over the line and making the score even.

It was all down the final race and as Lavreysen seemed unsettled at the start line, compared to a relaxed Richardson. Richardson chopped around the track, distracting and confusing Lavreysen before committing in the final lap and holding off Lavreysen’s attacks to become the first ever British man to take the European jersey.

On finally beating his rival, Richarson said: “It was hopefully an exciting final for the people watching at home. I certainly enjoyed myself; It was a really hard-fought battle. I’ve been working on trying to beat Harrie for many many years and always fell a little bit short so it’s really satisfying to finally get on that top step.  

“I’m really proud to be able to wear this jersey for the next year and I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”

Women’s individual pursuit

The women’s individual pursuit saw two more Brits on the same podium as Josie Knight regained her European title from 2024 and Millie Couzens took the bronze medal on her debut. 

Knight kicked off proceedings with a bang as she set a new women‘s 4km IP world record time of 4:19.461, taking 4.181 seconds off Vittoria Bussi’s previous record from May 2025. This put her into the gold medal ride off where she left opponent Federica Venturelli for dust, commanding the track to take the gold medal with ease, in 4:22.353.

Teammate Millie Couzens qualified third fastest in 4:24.415 in her individual debut. The final saw Couzens and Mischa Bredewold (NED) fight it out for bronze, both rider being more accustomed to road racing with their Women’s World Tour teams. Couzens took an early lead before Bredewold managed to hold the gap for a time, before Couzens rode away with a lead of over 4.029 seconds to win bronze.

Women’s 1km time-trial  

Sophie Capewell set a British record of 1:03.681 to qualify fourth. In the final she launched into her effort, putting her 0.43 seconds up on the leader in the first half-lap. Capewell tried to hold on but faded towards the end, finishing fourth overall.

Endurance rider Kate Richardson also stepped up to the plate for the relatively new event, delivering a time of 1:07.834 to finish 19th overall.  

Men’s omnium

18-year-old Henry Hobbs found himself in a dramatic omnium, initially securing a 6th place finish in the scratch race as three-time European champion Iuri Leitao (Portugal) lapped the field to take the first event win of the day.

Leitao continued to dominate, winning the tempo race with more lap-takes while Hobbs finished a solid 10th.

It was the elimination race where Leitao came unstuck, leaving early in 14th place to cast doubt on his lead. Hobbs however stayed well-positioned, survived some tight sprints and flew to the win ahead of Yanne Dorenbos (NED) to put him on 92 points, tied with Roger Kluge (Germany), Leitao and Savekin (AIN), 10 points behind Dorenbos.

Hobbs stayed calm and let sporadic sprint points be taken before launching an attack a quarter of the way into the race. With no one responding, Hobbs committed to his chance and took the lap catapulting him into first place with a 14 point lead.

Pushing for redemption from his elimination disappointment, Leitao was not going to let this pass and made his own jump off the bunch joined by Dorenbos, with a recovering Hobbs unable to attack.

As the race unfolded and Hobbs tried to recover from his solo effort, his competitors worked together to edge their way up the rankings , with the final blow to his lead coming as Dorenbos, Kluge and Leitao took a lap leaving him no time to bring it back. Hobbs finished in a valiant fourth place overall. 

Women’s points race  

Imogen Wolff showed good tactics and real promise amongst a stacked field in her first elite points race. An early lap from Palina Konrad (AIN) and Victoire Berteau (FRA) lit up the race early, before Wolff sprinted to a confident five points, putting herself on the board and in an early third place.

Kopecky took advantage of post-sprint lull to make her move with an immediate response from the group which she blocked to keep her lead. The bunch fractured making Kopecky’s lap-take trickier, while Wolff and Gwen Notham (LUX) joined her wheel. Sofia van Rooijen (NED) managed to join Kopecky in her eventual lap gain, while the bunch eventually reformed.

As the race came to its closing laps, Kopecky showed no signs of fatigue and a group including Wolff lost a lap, putting her to -15 laps. However, Wolff stayed active and alert through to the death, following moves and working hard to take 10th overall. 

Tomorrow’s final day of racing will see both the men’s and women’s keirin races and the men’s and women’s Madison events to top off five days of racing in Konya.

You can follow highlights on Instagram @GBCyclingTeam and watch from 15:15 on Discovery+.  

Full results

Day one 
Silver, Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell, Rhianna Parris-Smith and Lowri Thomas, women’s team sprint  
Silver, Harry Radford, Matthew Richardson, Joe Truman and Hamish Turnbull, men’s team sprint  
6th, Will Tidball, men’s elimination race  
12th, Imogen Wolff, women’s scratch race  

Day two 
Gold, Joe Truman, men’s 1km time-trial 
Gold, Katie Archibald, Millie Couzens, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Kate Richardson, women’s team pursuit 
Bronze, Matthew Bostock, Henry Hobbs, Will Tidball, Ben Wiggins, Ollie Wood, men’s team pursuit 
4th, Ben Wiggins, men’s points race 
19th, Imogen Wolff, women’s elimination race

Day three 
Gold, Emma Finucane, women’s sprint  
Gold, Anna Morris, women’s omnium  
Silver, Sophie Capewell, women’s sprint 
4th, Matt Bostock, men’s individual pursuit 
10th, Tim Shoreman, men’s individual pursuit 
18th, Will Tidball, men’s scratch race

Day four 
Gold, Josie Knight, women’s individual pursuit 
Gold, Matt Richardson, men’s sprint 
Bronze, Millie Couzens, women’s individual pursuit 
4th, Sophie Capewell, women’s 1km time-trial 
4th, Henry Hobbs, men’s omnium 
10th, Imogen Wolff, points race 
19th, Kate Richardson, women’s 1km time-trial 

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