British Cycling’s most successful world track championships campaign in over a decade, in which they topped the medal table in the first qualifying event for the 2028 Olympic Games, was achieved against a backdrop of allegations of misconduct and looming redundancies. Despite a traumatic buildup to the championships in Shanghai, with star sprinter Matt Richardson withdrawn from competition on the eve of the event due to allegations of “discriminatory remarks”, the British squad recovered to win six gold medals, three silver and three bronze. Anna Morris stepped into the void left by Richardson’s sudden exit, winning three world titles – joining past triple gold medallists Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins – while Millie Couzens and Erin Boothman won the individual pursuit and Madison, respectively.
It was Team GB’s most successful track world championships since Melbourne in 2012, when they also claimed six gold medals. Richardson’s withdrawal, however, sparked further allegations during the championships of discrimination and bullying in the wider organisation at a time when British Cycling is also in the midst of a restructuring process expected to lead to multiple redundancies. Attributing the job losses to the body’s new strategy of creating “a stronger organisation”, a British Cycling spokesperson said that the changes “will result in some roles being removed” but that it would be inappropriate to put a figure on those potentially at risk during the restructure.
Sources have told the Guardian, however, that up to 17 roles within the national body are considered at risk. It was also revealed last week by the Times, that in a survey commissioned by former British Cycling CEO, Jon Dutton, 31% of riders and staff, when asked whether they had “witnessed or experienced thoughtless, inappropriate, or unacceptable behaviour”, responded in the affirmative. When describing the culture of their world-class programme, “driven” was the most commonly used word among the riders and staff, but second-most prominent, alongside “supportive”, was “toxic”.
The shadow of a “toxic culture” then lengthened after a LinkedIn post by the former commercial manager, Jack Lindsay, was supported by others with recent experience of British Cycling. Lindsay said that he had complained formally over bullying, but that there was “no action against the individual I had sought to hold responsible”. He added that he had “repeatedly raised incidents of bullying by a member of the executive with members of the senior leadership team, and that management had chosen to address them informally”.
Holt described the allegations of bullying as a “peek under the rug at a large scale operation that hasn’t had significant scrutiny because the medals keep coming in”. Neither British Cycling nor UK Sport were able to confirm the date of Lindsay’s complaint being raised, nor the details of any action that was taken. However the Guardian has confirmed that the staff Culture Survey was implemented by Dutton in a direct response to Lindsay’s complaint.
Richardson is now under investigation although British Cycling has declined to state when it is expected to conclude, or whether the findings will be made public. UK Sport reiterated that “the highest standards of integrity and athlete welfare are non-negotiable when it comes to UK Sport’s commitment to winning well”. It is a decade since Jess Varnish made allegations of sexism and bullying against then technical director Shane Sutton.
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