Matthew Richardson is Australia’s most dominant sprint cyclist since Anna Meares.

But up against modern legend Harrie Lavreysen, he just didn’t quite have enough to claim Olympic gold in Paris.

The England-born, Perth-raised rider gave everything to overhaul the multiple world champion in baking conditions at the Vélodrome National.

But the man who ensured the Aussie only held the world record for a matter of minutes on Wednesday would also deny him a maiden gold medal too, overpowering the 25-year-old with a visceral display of power that had the whole velodrome gasping in awe at what they had seen.

The cat and mouse of sprint racing is one of the most fascinating and nerve-wrenching in sport.

Two riders, eyes locked on each other, shadowing one another’s movements for at least a lap of the three they contest.

The incongruently slow speeds in the early part of the race are soon forgotten as the riders explode in a fit of power, approaching speeds of 80kph.

It is the most intense of one-on-one battles at these Olympics outside of the combat sports, truly gladiatorial in scope.

And in the final we had two gladiators to enjoy duking it out.

This battle though has, in truth, been going on in earnest for at least three days now. 

At least because the mind games have been going for months, every race and every moment in training leading to this battle.

But in Paris, from the moment Richardson nabbed the world record in qualification on Wednesday, a blistering ride of 9.091 at an average speed of 79.199kp/h, only to see Lavreysen steal it away a handful of minutes later by 0.003 seconds, this has been the one we wanted to see.

From there, both men made their way through to the final with an inevitability that most in the arena have been hoping for.

Lavreysen needed two fiercely-contested races to beat Brit Jack Carlin in the afternoon session’s semifinals, with Richardson showing his nous to overcome Jeffrey Hoogland twice.

The second of those two semifinal match-races was perhaps the most revealing.

After two laps of painstakingly slow riding, Richardson powered over the top of the Dutch rider and celebrated before he even crossed the line.

It was a brutal display of power. 

And, in an event where the battle is just as much contested in the head as in the legs, it was a big moment.

But Lavreysen was unlikely to be bowed by that pressure.

The 27-year-old Dutch rider is one of the all-time greats in this event, winning five-straight world championship titles since 2019.

One of those titles, in 2022 at this very venue, his opponent in the final was Richardson: Lavreysen won 2-0.

Add to that his three keirin titles and five team sprint crowns, he is the second-most successful track cyclist of all time in terms of rainbow jersey’s won with 13.

Having already defended his Olympic team sprint title with his Dutch teammates earlier in the week, he was odds on to go back-to-back in the solo event as well. 

Ahead of each race, the riders are sat next to each other, waiting to enter the track.

It is yet more incongruity, two men who would only have eyes for each other in a matter of minutes, doing their level best to ignore each other.

Sitting together but minds apart, visualising how they would dismantle the man next to them in a pique of power and thought and speed and guile.

Lavreysen led the race out at a crawl, both men barely turning the pedals before both slowly, inexorably upped their pace.

With a lap to go they were flying, Richardson moving up and down the impossibly steep banking in an effort to generate just a little bit more speed and put the Dutch legend off his game.

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He didn’t quite manage it, first blood to Lavreysen, who held off the charging West Australian to record a 1-0 lead.

Now they must wait, the glorious, unpredictable chaos of the women’s Madison a suitable distraction for the crowd, craving the next instalment of the sprint battle.  

As Italy celebrated a wild victory in that 120-lap epic, Richardson was sitting impassively next to equally-stoic bronze medal hope Jack Carlin of Britain.

Lavreysen though, was turning his legs over on the rollers before he too joined his rival on the bench.

The atmosphere inside the Vélodrome National was stiflingly hot, the pressure of the wait manifesting itself into desperately oppressive conditions.