Matt's Profile

Like so many Great Britain Cycling Team endurance riders before him, Matt Walls has successfully combined track and road racing. An Olympic champion, Walls has already proven his potential on the track, and has concentrated on his road racing schedule since 2022, though he has struggled with injury in recent seasons.

As early as 2016, at the UEC European Junior Track Championships in Montichiari, Italy, Walls made his mark winning gold in a team pursuit squad that included Ethan Hayter, and gold in the Madison with Rhys Britton.

There were also medals at that summer’s UCI Junior Track World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, where he collected a silver in the points race and bronze in the team pursuit, respectively. 

Stepping up to under-23 level, Walls and Hayter helped Great Britain win the team pursuit at the 2017 World Championships in Sangalhos, Portugal, but 2018 proved to be a real breakout year for the young rider.

At the UEC European Under-23 Track Championships in Aigle, Walls dominated, collecting gold medals in no less than three events: the scratch race, team pursuit and Madison. But the highlight of the year came in the elite UEC European Track Championships in Glasgow, where he was crowned European champion in the elimination race. Following that, Walls won an exciting omnium event at the final UCI Track World Cup meeting of the year in London, beating a strong field that included Elia Viviani, the reigning Olympic omnium champion.

The 2019 season saw Walls start to make his mark in road racing but there was still time for him to retain his UEC European Under-23 Track Championship Madison title, this time with Fred Wright, in Ghent, Belgium. Walls also added a gold in the omnium at those championships for good measure.

In February 2020, at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin, the Oldham-born rider won a bronze medal in the multi-discipline omnium event among a world-class field. 

In November, at the UEC European Track Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Walls became a double gold medallist in the omnium and the elimination race which marked Walls out as a young rider to watch in Tokyo.

The young rider’s exciting talent did not go unnoticed in the world of road racing. After a memorable year in 2019, in which Walls won a stage of the prestigious Giro Ciclistico d'Italia, the amateur version of the Giro d’Italia, and made his debut at the Tour of Britain where, riding for a Great Britain team, he came second on Stage 5 in Birkenhead. Walls also finished in the top ten at the European Under-23 Championships Road Race in Alkmaar, Netherlands. German World Tour Team BORA-Hansgrohe signed Walls to a “neo-pro” contract beginning in 2021; a reward for the young sprinter’s development and an indication that he would continue to develop his road racing career in the future.

It was a year to remember in 2021, as Walls shone both on the road and track, proving his versatility and ability to combine disciplines at the highest level. In August, his dual discipline prowess was proven as he won Olympic gold in the omnium in Tokyo, and a stage of the Tour of Norway just two weeks later. Winning Olympic gold marks the high point of his career to date, an outstanding achievement to which Walls added a silver in the Madison, once again partnering with Hayter. There was further reason to celebrate later in the season as Walls won the Italian Gran Piemonte (1.1) one-day race to conclude an impressive year.

While he opted to ride a busy road schedule and take a step back from track competition in the early part of 2022, Walls went on to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, but what began as a dream turned into a nightmare as he suffered a high speed crash during his qualification for the scratch race, leading to an extended break from the bike following a diagnosis of concussion.

Walls returned to competition in 2023, where he rode an interrupted road season due to a fractured hip suffered in a training crash in May. Following the end of his contract with BORA-hansgrohe, Walls joined the French Groupama-FDJ World Tour team and has ridden a number of races so far in 2024.

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