Former world junior champion, and multiple medalist at the worlds, Conor Rowley has declared for Ireland and is set to make his debut in Ireland this weekend.
Rowley will be lining out at the National Track Championships
on Sundrive Rd velodrome in Dublin; coming to Ireland for just two events.
He has ridden for Australia internationally until now but, with Irish roots, he has recently declared for Ireland. His appearance in Dublin at the nationals this weekend will effectively unveil him as an Irish rider.
Still aged just 23 years, Rowley enjoyed incredible success with Australia as a junior, taking medals during both of his junior seasons at the World Track Championships.
Related News
At the Worlds in Kazakhstan in 2015 he claimed silver as part of Australia’s team sprint line-up and also placed 7th in the individual sprint. He went back to the Worlds the following year, in Switzerland, and was crowned junior world champion in the keirin and took silver in both the sprint and the team sprint.
Advertisement
While representing Australia in more recent years, at the Oceanic Championships in 2019, he was 8th in the keirin and made the team sprint line-up again, with Australia finishing just outside the medals in 4th.
At the start of this year he won the kilo and placed 3rd in the sprint at the Victoria Elite Track Championships in Melbourne; setting a new Irish record in the kilo of 1:02.842. Rowley is down to ride for Melbourne-based Blackburn Cycling Club this weekend in Dublin.
He is on the start list for both the kilo and the sprint and is a man to watch closely. If he does well and goes on to ride for the national team, which seems highly likely, he would be the second Australian-based rider to make that transition.
Shannon McCurley, who grew up in Australia, has been
riding for Ireland for years and has represented us at the last two Olympic
Games. She also took silver in the scratch race at the Europeans two years ago.
Topics
