Richardson has nothing but praise for Azizul’s ‘crazy’ move

By the skin of his teeth: Azizulhasni Awang (left) nudged just ahead of Britain’s Matthew Richardson to win the keirin final at the World Cup in Perth.

PETALING JAYA: British cycling star Matthew Richardson admitted that he was completely caught off guard by Azizulhasni Awang’s bold last gasp overtaking move to win the keirin event at the opening Track World Cup series in Perth.

Azizul stunned the current sprint world record holder to win gold in the men’s keirin final on Saturday.

Richardson was considered the outright favourite to win in the absence of Holland’s Harrie Lavreysen, who did not make the trip to Perth, but had to settle for silver behind the Malaysian in the dramatic final race.

Richardson still ended up returning to Britain with a gold medal in the sprint after beating Australia’s Leigh Hoffman in the final.

Richardson described the keirin race, held at the Perth Speed Dome, as “crazy” but had nothing but praise for the 38-year-old from Dungun, Terengganu.

“Chapeau (take my hats off) to Awang, that was a crazy race,” said Richardson during a post-race interview with UCI after winning the sprint event on Sunday.

“To be stepping around (overtake) at the last minute like that, I didn’t expect it at all.

“I guess Perth (Speed Dome) does have really long straights, so he (Azizul) did have a little bit of an advantage there.

“But it was a great ride from him obviously,” said the 26-year-old, who settled for silver behind Lavreysen in the keirin and sprint events at the Paris Olympics two years ago.

Richardson is arguably the second best sprinter in the world after Lavreysen and is also the only man to dip below nine seconds in the 200m flying lap for sprint, clocking 8.857s in Konya, Turkiye in 2024.