Matt Richardson, the Australian cyclist who controversially swapped nations days after winning three Olympic medals, has been withdrawn from the British team for this week’s World Cycling Championships amid allegations of misconduct.

British Cycling confirmed the 27-year-old was leaving the squad’s base in China, without giving any reason for the decision.

The Times is reporting that Richardson is the subject of an investigation by the governing body into allegations of misconduct.

“British Cycling can confirm that Matt Richardson has been withdrawn from the Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the upcoming 2026 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Shanghai, China,” a statement from British Cycling’s statement read.

In a second statement reported by The Times, the cycling body said it took “any allegations of harassment, bullying or discrimination extremely seriously”.

“Where concerns are raised, they are investigated thoroughly through our established procedures. Out of fairness to anyone involved in an investigation, we would not comment on any ongoing process,” it said.

The newspaper reports the investigation was launched after a complaint from a fellow cyclist. It also revealed claims that Richardson had been “making discriminatory remarks about people from minority backgrounds” and “joking about his use of the N-word”.

The sprint star, who was born in Maidstone in England and moved to Perth with his family at the age of nine, switched allegiance from Australia to his birth nation of Britain in the days after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

He had been expected to win medals in Shanghai in the team and individual sprints, and the keirin. The world championships begin on Wednesday and run to October 18.

After Richardson’s defection, a furious AusCycling looked into pursuing a two-year competition ban for him but concluded it was not possible.

The national governing body, which accused Richardson of trying to take Australian team gear and intellectual property (including his custom race bike and cockpit) with him to Britain, did ban him from returning to AusCycling. However, he has never expressed any desire to do so.

Richardson was forced out of his highly-anticipated England debut at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this year when he crashed in a keirin race shortly before he was due to fly to Glasgow.

-with AAP