Matthew Thomas Walls (born 20 April 1998) is a British

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

and track cyclist, who currently rides for

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

Career

Walls won the gold medal in the men's omnium event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Walls was involved in an accident during the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

when his bike was catapulted over the barriers and into the spectators.

Major results

Road

;2016 : 1st Points classification, Junior Tour of Wales ;2018 : Flèche du Sud ::1st Points classification ::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 1st Stage 3 Paris–Arras Tour ;2019 : 1st Stage 2 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia : 2nd Overall Paris–Arras Tour ::1st Stage 3 : 2nd Arno Wallaard Memorial : 3rd Entre Brenne et Montmorillonnais : 10th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Championships ;2021 (2 pro wins) : 1st Gran Piemonte : 1st Stage 4 Tour of Norway ;2024 : 2nd Circuit race, National Championships ;2025 : 9th Classique Dunkerque

Track

;2016 : UEC European Junior Championships ::1st Team pursuit ::1st Madison (with Rhys Britton) : UCI World Junior Championships ::2nd Silver medal uci

Points race ::3rd Bronze medal uci

Team pursuit : 2nd Madison,

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

(with Matt Bostock) ;2017 : 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships : 1st Six Days of Berlin Under-23 (with Ethan Hayter) :

::1st Madison (with Ethan Hayter) ::1st Omnium ::2nd

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

;2018 : 1st Elimination, UEC European Championships : 1st

Omnium An omnium (from Latin ''omnium'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that f ...

, UCI World Cup,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: UEC European Under-23 Championships ::1st Madison (with Ethan Hayter) ::1st Scratch ::1st Team pursuit :

::1st Omnium ::1st

::3rd Scratch ;2019 : UEC European Under-23 Championships ::1st Madison (with Fred Wright) ::1st Omnium :

::1st Omnium ::2nd Points race ::2nd

;2020 : UEC European Championships ::1st Elimination ::1st

: 3rd

, UCI World Championships ;2021 :

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

::1st

::2nd

Madison (with Ethan Hayter)

Honours and awards

Walls was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

on 8 September 2021. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to cycling.

References

External links

Matt Walls
at

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walls, Matthew 1998 births Living people English male cyclists British male cyclists Sportspeople from Oldham English track cyclists British track cyclists Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medalists in cycling English Olympic competitors Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic gold medalists in cycling 21st-century English sportsmen