On Saturday he celebrates his 35th birthday and 10-year World Championship anniversary: Michael Matthews expects to burn a crazy number of calories in Kigali

It has been an eventful year for the Aussie, who turns 35 on Saturday. He ended his spring season on a high note with a notable victory in Eschborn-Frankfurt, but in May, his team, Jayco AlUla, suddenly announced that Matthews had suffered a pulmonary embolism while preparing for the Tour de France.

He looked back on this with NOS before the Mixed Relay. “I suddenly had a lot of trouble breathing. At first, I thought it was an allergy, which I sometimes suffer from in the summer. So I just carried on. I kept training, but at a certain point, I couldn't breathe anymore. My heart rate didn't go above 140, even though I was going full throttle. I felt dizzy and almost fainted on my bike.”

When he didn't feel any better at rest, he decided to seek help. “My heart rate stayed at 120 or higher when it should have been 60 or 70. If I had waited any longer, the blood clots would have gone to my brain, and that would have been the end of the story. I'm very glad I decided to get tested. As a cyclist, that's not very common, because you're used to just carrying on.”

Matthews had to take blood thinners for three months and returned to competition at the beginning of this month. He noticed that his heart rate had returned to the levels he was accustomed to during the Mixed Relay, which the Australians ultimately won. Both at his own finish and that of his female compatriots.

“During our own finish, the heart rate was just a little higher,” Matthews smiles. “I already talked about it with Jay Vine: we finished, then allowed ourselves to coast for 100 meters, and then completely collapsed off our bikes. We gave everything we had. Watching the women's finish was nerve-wracking, amazing, and so on.”

And so the Aussies extended their world title in the Mixed Relay discipline. “I don't know why, but Australians just always do well in team efforts. On the road, but also on the track, for example. Our team has always done well in team time trials too.”

For Matthews, it means a lot. “After everything I've been through in recent months, it already feels like a huge relief that I can even be here with the Australian team. This is a great start. During the period when I couldn't race, I worked myself into a sweat to make a good comeback. While I was still on blood thinners.”

"The pressure is off a bit now ahead of Sunday," he continues. "It will be the toughest day on the bike we've ever experienced, for all of us. I think I'll burn around 8,500 calories, which is a significant amount, especially considering the altitude and heat. With this air quality. It's going to be a battle of survivors," says the man who also stood on the World Championship podium with bronze in Bergen in 2017 and Wollongong in 2022.

Silver medalist Ben O'Connor will not be there, but with Matthews himself, Vine, Jai Hindley, and Michael Storer, the Australians have a good team. “I have prepared as well as possible, given the circumstances, but we have a strong team with guys who are in excellent shape. This is the strongest selection we have ever had at a World Championship, I dare say.”