Since making his Olympic debut in 2012, Matthew Glaetzer has gone from strength to strength on the track. Alongside experienced campaigner Anna Mears, Glaetzer is Australia’s leading medal hope in the sprint events at the UCI Track World Championships in London next week.
Glaetzer is coming into the competition off the back of a strong season that has seen him take two national titles and finish the year as the top-ranked sprinter in the world. With his second Olympic Games just five months away, he is determined to send out a message in the Lee Valley VeloPark that he made his debut in by adding to his team sprint world title of 2012.
“Performing at these World Championships not only sets your place in the team but it sends a bit of a message to the international competitors that we’re here for business, and we’re not just here to make up the numbers. It’s a big benchmark event with our team internally and telling the other countries that we’re here to beat them,” Glaetzer told Cyclingnews from his London-based hotel, where he and the rest of the Australian squad have been based since the start of this week.
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Glaetzer and his teammates have spent the last few days adjusting to the new time zone and the freezing temperatures, a shock to the system after the heat of the Australian summer. The travelling means that they spent some time off the bike, but they were finally able to get the legs spinning and test out the boards on Wednesday.
The Adelaide rider will be competing in three events next week, the team and individual sprints, and the Keirin. He’ll be in action on the opening day in the team sprint, with the medals up for grabs in the evening session. Australia has entered a very young team for the discipline, with an average age of just under 22 [21.75 to be exact]. Still only 23, Glaezter is the experienced hand in the line-up and they are not sure what they’ll be able to produce on the night.
“We were just talking about it the other day, and we figured it out that I’ve been to more World Championships than the other three combined. I am technically the old bloke of the team, but it’s alright, we have a joke about it,” said Glaetzer.
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