‘I Thought My Career Was Done’: Michael Matthews Earns Surprise Silver Medal at Worlds After Major Setbacks

Few people had Brandon McNulty picked to win the world championship in Montréal. Fewer still had Michael Matthews anywhere near the podium.

Yet on Sunday the veteran Australian rider, who turned 36 the day before, finished on the second podium spot, standing above a former world champion, Mathieu van der Poel.

Matthews crossed the finish line in disbelief, his head going into his hands. The victory caps off a return to form after a scary last year and a half full of personal struggle.

“It all came together today after what I’ve been through the last two years,” he said after the race. “It’s been a roller coaster, so I thought my career was done two times in the last two years and now to be here with a silver medal around my neck at the world championships is a dream come true.”

Feeling difficulty breathing and an erratic heartrate, he was hospitalized before the Tour de France in 2025 with a pulmonary embolism, a serious condition where blood clots travel to the lungs blocking oxygen to the rest of the body. He would ultimately be out of competition for three months, but at the time he feared it could be the end of his career, or even his life.

Fast forward to March of this year and he would again be sidelined after breaking both wrists in a training crash. That incident would keep him out a further three months, and again have him questioning whether he could continue his racing career. But he returned to racing once more.

While Matthews has historically performed well at the Canadian Grands Prix, winning three times in Quebec as well as in Montreal in 2018, he finished 54th in this year’s edition just two weeks prior.

Since that lackluster result, Matthews has spent the last two weeks training for worlds. And on Sunday he played his cards right.

“I had my tactics today, which was stay quiet, stay around the real favorites and make sure to try and bring some metal home,” he said. “And I think somehow that worked out today.”

Matthews made the final chase group after an extremely difficult, attritional race, and though any chances of catching Brandon McNulty’s solo attack up the road were neutralized by Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons in the break, he was able to best everyone else in the grinding, slightly uphill 500-meter run in to the finish line.

“I was speaking to my wife before the race today, and she just said, honestly, go out there, enjoy, and just leave it all out there,” he said.

“Make sure you finish the race, knowing that you gave it everything you had.
 And I think that’s why I was able to achieve today… I’m pretty speechless still to be sitting here right now with a silver medal around my neck.”