Australia wins team sprint bronze and breaks 20-year Olympic hoodoo

Australia has broken a 24-year drought of men’s team sprint Olympic medals and four consecutive fourth-place finishes by winning the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Matthew Glaetzer, Matthew Richardson and Leigh Hoffman prevailed in the bronze medal final versus France at Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in a time of 41.597 to 41.993. 

Australia reshuffled the team sprint line for the medal decider after a disappointing first round performance of 42.336 that resulted in the trio missing out on qualification to the gold medal final, ending the possibility of a highly anticipated showdown with the Netherlands for Olympic supremacy. 

That reshuffle of Glaetzer to starter duties, Hoffman to the second man role and Richardson to third man proved to be decisive in the battle for bronze. 

For all three, it is their first Olympic medal of any colour, but it lifts the biggest burden of ambition off Glaetzer, who has endured three heartbreaking bronze medal final defeats at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021. 

The 31-year-old, who has already stated this Olympics will be his last, has had a career full of adversity and it could have ended back in 2019 when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

But as he did today in Paris, Glaetzer fought on and found a way. It’s that attribute that may very will be his legacy when all is said and done – he is a fighter. 

And the fighter has realised his Olympic dream.

“This bronze is like a gold to me,” he said. 

“To be honest, it’s a lot of relief. I’ve been chasing an Olympic medal my whole career and it’s taken 12 years. 

“Just to get a medal means a lot because we dedicate all of our young lives to this and it’s so nice to get that reward. It’s so special to share that with the boys.” 

Glaetzer said he knew a switch was required for a better team performance in the bronze final, volunteering to coaching staff to lead the team off from the gate.  

“My teammates were so fast. I had to mix it up because I knew that we couldn’t keep repeating the same (tactics) because Leigh was just going nuclear in that first lap, and I had to make sure that we could maximise that horsepower and get a better team time on the board,” he said

“Our first two laps were just so fast that I wasn’t quite on the wheel and I had to be to deliver a good team time, and after the first round I knew I had to mix it up because I didn’t want to risk that in the final, so it was a complete reshuffle of the team. 

“But sometimes that’s what it takes, to put your ego aside and say look, my normal position probably isn’t ideal right now, so let’s maximise the power and speed that Richo and Hoffy have, and that’s what we did. 

“I’m super proud of the boys – they’re so talented. We have each other’s backs and we train so hard. They’ve improved so much over the last four years and I’m just privileged to have them as teammates.” 

 Pictures: Getty Images