B ritish 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Despite a traumatic buildup to the championships in Shanghai, with star sprinter Matt Richardson withdrawn from competition on the eve of the event due to allegations of “discriminatory remarks”, the British squad recovered to win six gold medals, three silver and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”.
“The high-performance programme receives millions of pounds each year in public funding,” Lindsay said. “Athletes, staff, sponsors and the public have a legitimate interest in whether the organisation upholds the standards it promotes.”
Lindsay’s post was supported by Georgia Holt, a Commonwealth Games medallist and paracycling world champion, who said that she had “unfortunately experienced the same toxic culture”.
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. He denied the accusations but Varnish’s complaint was upheld. Those allegations led to the commissioning of an independent review of British Cycling’s culture in 2017.
In the aftermath of that review, which revealed a “culture of fear” and a “dysfunctional leadership”, the national body set out to develop “common values, leadership principles and employee behaviours that British Cycling lives by”.
But sources with recent experience of British Cycling have told the Guardian that past cultural issues have now returned.
On the condition of anonymity, one former British Cycling employee, who also worked in an advisory capacity, said that “the problems went round and round, people left, others took their place and no progress was made. The only thing that mattered was more medals, as with that the budget was secure. The culture was based solely on the result and how that was achieved came under no scrutiny.”
In response to the criticisms of culture, British Cycling said that it was “committed to delivering our strategy and ambitions in an environment where people feel supported, valued and able to do their best work.
“Our most recent staff Culture Survey recorded a 71.2% favourability score across the organisation, which is categorised as ‘very good’. However, we recognise some colleagues have raised concerns, and we are committed to listening and acting wherever this is the case.
“The GB Cycling Team has developed an action plan that is being implemented, alongside wider work across British Cycling focused on leadership, development, feedback and wellbeing.”
Dutton, who was also a director of Grand Départ GB to oversee the visit of the 2027 men’s and women’s Tour de France, left British Cycling this summer. He was appointed as CEO of the British Olympic Association in January this year, assuming his new role in July.
