Dr Mehdi Kordi came into elite sport sideways. No racing career, no playing background, no route through the system. He arrived through research, completed a PhD in sprint physiology embedded with British Cycling, and stayed because the problem was interesting. He went on to coach the GB para-sprint tandems to four world titles and four world records.
In 2019, he became Sprint Coach at the Dutch cycling federation. Over the Tokyo and Paris cycles, his riders won six Olympic gold medals, multiple world titles, and multiple world records. In 2022, he became the Head Sprint coach of the Dutch track cyclists, and in Paris, the Netherlands topped the track cycling medal table for the first time. They did it with a staff and a budget a fraction of the size of the programmes they beat. He then joined INEOS Grenadiers as Head of Performance Support and Innovation.
The part organisations find useful is not the medal count. It is how a smaller programme beat larger ones for six years. It was not by doing everything slightly better. It was by deciding what not to do, and holding that line when it was uncomfortable and when better-resourced rivals were doing the opposite. Most teams can list five priorities fluently. Very few can name the one they would protect if the other four had to slip.
He now works independently with businesses and sporting organisations on performance, decision-making, and leadership under pressure, and writes on football and performance data for The Times. He has spoken at the Association of Sporting Directors Global Conference and FUEL Manchester, and delivers leadership workshops for teams outside sport, including financial trading desks. To secure him for your next event, contact Champions Speakers today!
Mehdi Kordi's official speaking topics are listed below:
Winning Differently
How the smallest budget won the medal table. Not marginal gains, but the discipline of choosing what to ignore. How that decision process worked, and how to run it in an organisation with more work than people.
Marginal Gains Are Dead
Most teams can list five priorities fluently. Very few can name the one they would protect if the other four had to slip. Why the marginal gains model does not transfer to environments without unlimited resource, and what replaces it.
Two Riders, One Seat
The decisions leaders avoid. Olympic selection means telling one person yes and another no, in public, with their career attached. What honest decision making costs, and how to make hard calls people still respect you for.
High Challenge, Healthy (Workshop Format)
Feedback that lands without breaking trust. Naming problems directly, framing them so they can be acted on, and assigning them so they get fixed. Delivered for trading desk leadership teams as well as sporting organisations.
Never Raced a Bike
The outsider's advantage. Leading experts without holding their credential, and earning authority on judgement alone. Relevant to anyone entering a new sector or hiring outside the obvious pool.
- 2026 - Appeared on the 'Oh No Another Podcast' With Sam Jones
- 2026 - Appeared on the Leadership Actually podcast
- 2026 - Featured in The Telegraph
- 2026 - Spoke at the Association of Sporting Directors 2026 Global Conference
- 2024 - Head of Innovation and Performance Support at INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team
- 2024 - Won 3 Gold and 1 Silver medal at the Paris Olympics as Head Coach for the Dutch track sprint team, where they topped the track cycling medal table
- 2023 - Won 4 Gold World Championship medals as Head Coach for the Dutch squad
- 2022 - Won 2 Gold World Championship medals as Track Endurance Coach for the Dutch team
- 2022 - Head Sprint Coach at KNWU
- 2021 - Track Coach (Endurance) at KNWU
- 2021 - Won 3 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics as Track Sprint Coach & Scientist for the Dutch national team
- 2018 - Coach and Scientist (Track Sprint) at KNWU
- 2017 - Coach and Scientist at Huub-Wattbike Test Team
- 2017 - Podium Sprint Coach (Para) for British Cycling
- 2012 - Physiologist and PhD Researcher for the English Institute of Sport
- 2011 - Researcher at the European Astronaut Centre
- 2011 - Researcher at University College London
How to hire Mehdi Kordi
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Mehdi Kordi for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
