Michael Matthews felt his career was probably over at the start of the season. Having missed a large portion of the 2025 season after a pulmonary embolism was discovered in his lung, the 36-year-old then suffered a horrific crash with a fire truck while training in March. He sustained an open arm fracture, severed thumb tendons, broke both wrists and required stitches to his face for a sinus fracture.
"I hit a fire truck at pretty much 100km/h, I was doing 50 and the truck was doing 50," Matthews told the Detour podcast. "With a crash like that, it could have ended my career, or even worse. I might not be here right now. I'm extremely blessed to be able to tell the story and how lucky I was."
Yet less than eight months later, Matthews stood on the world championship podium for the fourth time in his career, claiming second place behind surprise American winner Brandon McNulty after a brutal 273.4-kilometre course in and around Montreal. He led the chasing pack home 13 seconds behind McNulty, edging out former champion Mathieu van der Poel and Quinn Simmonds, who were both classified with the same time.
"I'm pretty speechless I'm sitting here with a silver medal around my neck," Matthews said. "Honestly, I wasn't sure exactly how today was going to go. The field was so strong. Leading into the race, I was quietly confident, but the world championships is always a bit of a lottery."
The silver medal joins the road race silver he won 11 years ago in Richmond, Virginia, as well as bronze medals from 2017 in Bergen and 2022 in Wollongong. Matthews also has two gold medals and a bronze in the mixed team relay at world championships, and was the under-23 world champion in Geelong in 2010.
Matthews said there were times over the past two years when he doubted he would return to the top level, crediting his family for always believing in him. "I think this was probably my last opportunity to be a world champion. So, obviously, mixed feelings, but at the same time, I have to be proud of the way I've bounced back," he said. "To be second around here on a circuit that many said was out of my reach, to show everyone that I'm still up there with the best in the world even after what I've been through, at the moment feels like a win."