Two rides of real significance against the watch have put the spotlight firmly on this Irish 16-year-old; Powerhouse Sports’ Xeno Young from Co Down. Climbing Mont Ventoux on a trip to France as a 13-year-old; Young has continued to row in school while excelling in cycling.
Having already broken into the Irish junior track and road team in his first year as an U18, Xeno Young has now established himself as one of Irish cycling’s most exciting prospects.
The Ulster teenager has, subject to ratification, broken the Irish junior 10 mile time trial record.
He clocked a time of 19:41 over the distance at the Glenshane TT Series on the A26 Woodgreen course between Antrim and Ballymena.
If the Powerhouse Sport 16-year-old’s time is ratified, as expected, he will have beaten the existing record set by Mark Downey, now a leading U23 rider based in France, by just one second.
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Young has shown real class in the past rowing, but now focussing more on cycling he seems to be very much one to watch - though he has continued to row at school.
Aside from his blistering time set against the watch last Thursday, Young has already made a mark on the track this summer.
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He blasted his way into the bronze medal ride off in the junior individual pursuit at the European Track Championships in Italy last month.
Young was 4th fastest in the pursuit qualifiers in a time of 3mins 20.521secs, lowering the previous Irish record for the event set by Michael O’Loughlin last year by just under five seconds.
The Co Down rider was eventually beaten by Reece Wood of Great Britain in a head-to-head to decide the destination of the bronze medal.
But his lowering of the record set by a rider of O’Loughlin’s class by such a margin was a performance of some significance.
And at the same championship meeting he had been part of the junior team pursuit line-up that lowered the national record in the discipline.
Young has already gained selection onto Irish teams on the road this year; given the nod for the Gorey Three Day at Easter and the Gent Wevelgem classic in March, though the team was not sent to Belgium amid security fears.
He also rode the junior World Track Championships in Switzerland last month and earlier this month was beaten to the Irish junior TT title by Ben Walsh (NRPT) by a margin of just two seconds.
In April he won the pursuit title at the National Track Championships, took silver in the sprint and bronze in the kilo.
We’ll bring you an interview with Young soon.
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