The Coffee Ride #194, with Reece Homfray: Matthew Glaetzer’s new motto proves a cut above
WORLD champion Matthew Glaetzer felt the expectation of the country when made a tactical blunder at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. But a haircut helped change his mindset. This and more in this month’s Coffee Ride.
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MATT’S NEW MOTTO
MATTHEW Glaetzer was getting his hair cut this year when he found the inspiration behind the new motto driving him on the velodrome.
It was just after his humiliating defeat at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when Glaetzer — the fastest qualifier and reigning world champion — lost to the slowest qualifier in Malaysian Muhammad Sahrom after a tactical blunder in the first round.
“That was rough, it was the biggest loss of my career and toughest thing I’ve had to overcome,” Glaetzer said.
“That was pretty soul destroying in the moment. But you learn lessons and more often than not you have to learn them the hard way.
“I felt the expectation of the country and to fall down as hard as I did was not easy.
“I was just being too nice, and lessons are learnt.
“I wasn’t in a good mindset again until two hours before the kilo the next day and it’s still not easy to think about now.”
So in the aftermath Glaetzer went searching not so much for answers but for a solution to make sure it would never happen again. And so one day while getting his hair cut, it came to him.
“I’ve adopted a ‘no mercy’ motto in the early rounds of the sprint competition,” he said.
“It was my hairdresser actually, Tony Scarfo from Zink, he came up with it and I was like ‘yep, that hits the nail on the head, that’s what I need to do’. Especially in the early rounds to avoid mishaps like that you just have to get the job done.”
Glaetzer is now back in Adelaide after the biggest year of his career and is back in training after a week off.
“That was nice and refreshing, because it had been three consecutive weekends of competition for us, so it gets a bit difficult towards the end,” he said.
“You’re glad to come home and have a bit of a break but we’ve been doing really well.”
Despite his blunder in the sprint on the Gold Coast, the 26-year-old still won the keirin and 1km time trial at the Commonwealth Games and spent the next five months in Japan racing the Japanese Keirin Series.
But his major breakthrough came in March when he became the first Australian since Sean Eadie in 2002 to win the men’s sprint at the world championships.
“The sprint world title was definitely the pinnacle and I knew I was capable of achieving it but I would just fall down at hurdles,” he said.
“I mean I’ve been one of the fastest sprinters in the world for four years now but I hadn’t managed to crack a big win.
“So it’s been the development of my racing, being more consistent and I was just on my game that day.”
His big year was recognised by the SA Sports Institute (SASI) gala dinner on Saturday when he was named its male athlete of the year along with rower Alex Hill.
“It has definitely been the best season yet,” he said.
“The sprint world championship, a world title, was huge because I know it had been 2002 since an Australian had won it.
“It’s really good for our sport in general and our squad because they saw their teammate, just normal Matty Glaetzer, just became world champ, so to set that belief within themselves that it’s not an unattainable level because they know where I’m at.”
After Japan, Glaetzer rode two world cups in the past month in France and Canada where he won the men’s sprint in the rainbow jersey.
“It’s hard to believe that you’re the sprint world champion because you get so used to seeing someone else wearing it, then all of a sudden, it’s mine, and I’m that guy,” he said.
“It’s interesting psychologically as well because there is expectation that comes with being reigning world champion and I put enough pressure on myself to perform but when I’m wearing the rainbow jersey it’s a pretty clear sign.
“But that’s been good to practice this through the world cups and putting it out of my mind to focus on what I need to do in the race because it’s quite distracting, it’s awesome, but it has that ability to distract you.”
He said spending five months in Japan where he was living away from home for the first time and forced to train on his own, often at night when the track was available, was a period of huge personal growth.
“Finding that inner drive to do it yourself, because you can draw motivation from your teammates and training environment in Adelaide but I really found my inner motivation and knew what I was working towards over there,” he said.
His performances at the two world cups straight after means he will definitely return to Japan next year to complete his two-year contract that comes with lucrative financial incentives.
“That was a test to see how I’d come out the other side from Japan and it’s all thumbs up, I did a personal best after corrections with conditions on a flying 200m with just a freshen up and not a big taper at all,” he said.
“So it’s exciting to know I trained hard and did everything I could and it wasn’t just okay, I actually took a step forward in my development.”
He will also be back in Japan in 2020 but for the Tokyo Olympics which he is already allowing himself to think about.
“It’s hard to not think about Tokyo, that’s all we’re planning towards,” Glaetzer said.
“Of course the world championships are important but Tokyo is always in the back of my mind and my motivation with training is driven a lot by knowing how fast everyone is going to be come 2020.
“My competitors and Dutch in particular are super powerful and quick and I know how much they step up at the Olympics so it motivates me even more.
“Now is the time the medals are earnt, the work we put in now, not the last couple of months prep, now is the time, so it’s really critical to make the most of that and push yourself as hard as you can.”
One of his big goals is to become world champion in all four sprint events. Having already ticked off the team sprint (in 2012) and sprint (in 2018), next is the keirin and 1km time trial.
“We’ve got such high standards as athletes and are always aiming for that next accomplishment,” Glaetzer said.
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MATHEW HAYMAN YOU LEGEND
THE Tour Down Under (TDU) will honour retiring Australian cycling great Mathew Hayman at its legend’s night dinner in January.
Hayman, 40, will retire from professional cycling in Adelaide after next year’s TDU and will open up about his 20-year career at the gala evening at the Convention Centre on Saturday, January 19.
“We are honoured by his gesture to finish his career at the Santos Tour Down Under,” race director Mike Turtur said.
“He has been a great supporter of our race since the inaugural event and for us to host him as his last professional race is a real honour. We look forward to celebrating his career here in Adelaide.”
Hayman is an Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist who forged a reputation as one of the best domestiques in the peloton during his professional career. But he will forever be known as a Paris-Roubaix champion after a fairytale victory in the cobbled classic in 2016.
SA Tourism Minister David Ridgway said Hayman was an “accomplished athlete” and “gentleman of the peloton” and it was only fitting he be honoured at the legend’s night.
“A career of this magnitude needs to be celebrated and the Santos Tour Down Under looks
forward to honouring this great Australian,” he said.
Hayman said the TDU had always been the perfect start to his season and would be the perfect race to “leave the party”.
“It’s always a privilege to race in front of our Australian fans on home soil — not something we have the opportunity to do too often,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to racing with my Mitchelton-Scott team mates one last time in
January at TDU and hope to see the fans cheering for me roadside.”
FOUR MORE INTO CA HALL OF FAME
CYCLING Australia will induct four people into its Hall of Fame at the sport’s annual awards presentation in Melbourne on November 23.
While CA is yet to announce the full list of inductees, this year’s will include Olympic gold medallist and Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur and fellow Olympic track medallist Michelle Ferris.
Ferris was Australia’s first Olympic sprint medallist when she won silver behind French cycling legend Felicia Ballanger in Atlanta in 1996.
She also won three consecutive silver medals behind Ballanger at the world championships from 1997-99.
“I need to stop and feel proud of what I achieved and I hope my persistence helped others to dream and achieve,” Ferris said.
“It is great to be remembered for my results and achievements of course but I do hope that my legacy is no matter what I was told, I never gave up.”
Turtur was part of Australia’s team pursuit that won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and is responsible for starting and still running the Tour Down Under as he continues to add to his legacy in the sport.
“After my cycling career I moved into full-time coaching however my true passion was in promoting and organising events,” he said.
“I’m particularly proud of Santos Tour Down Under which has now been running for 20 years and is a cornerstone event on the Australian calendar.”
BUCHANAN SET FOR WORLDS
CAROLINE Buchanan is set to race the BMX freestyle park world championships in China this week after making a successful switch to the new Olympic discipline.
Less than a year after she was almost killed in an off-road vehicle accident, Buchanan has recovered from her injuries and returned to elite level competition in the same sport but in a completely different way.
Rather than racing her way around the track like at the London and Rio Olympics, Buchanan is strutting her stuff in the air and last weekend finished ninth at a world cup in China.
Cycling Australia later made the decision to enter her in the Urban Cycling World Championships that will be held in Chengdu, China, from November 7-11.
Freestyle BMX has been added to the Olympic program for Tokyo and Australia is considered a genuine medal hope in the men’s race with Queenslander Logan Martin.
