Another gold medal miss for Matthews, but this year he's not disappointed: 'Hats off to him'

Matthews has a love-hate relationship with the World Championships. He has already won three medals: two bronze medals, finishing third in Bergen (2017) and at his home race in Wollongong (2022). He won silver in 2015 behind Peter Sagan in Richmond, while he also finished fourth in 2016 in Qatar and seventh in Harrogate in 2019. The silver medal marks yet another time the Australian has come close to the world title.

"To be honest, I didn't know how today would go," Matthews says in the flash interview. "The field was so strong. Of course, I was quietly confident going into the race, but it's always a bit of a lottery. This silver medal is amazing after everything I’ve been through, but I was beaten by a better cyclist today. He won here last year and finished third this year. He showed he’s in great shape, and the course suits him very well—hats off to him.”

And so there’s no disappointment for Matthews. The 36-year-old all-around athlete suffered a pulmonary embolism in 2025 and briefly feared for his life. He recovered and returned to cycling, but then took a hard fall during training in March of this year. He broke his right arm in the crash and also had to undergo surgery on his left arm. It was pure hell for him.

He made a miraculous recovery from those injuries and finished the Tour de France. After that, his focus shifted to the World Championships. “I stayed here between Québec and Montréal, had a good training block and competed in the Mixed Relay, and felt really good. I just had to make sure everything came together on the day itself, and I’m a little speechless that I’m standing here with a silver medal around my neck.”