Having only begun to take his cycling more seriously less than 18 months ago, Killian O'Brien has progressed at a rate of knots. In the most recent round of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series the first-year junior was dictating the pace, with leading elite rider Conor McDunphy, out front after 140km of racing against senior riders.
The signs were there earlier this year when he took a fine solo win in the A3-Junior race at the Shay Elliott Memorial. There, he excelled when the road kicked up. And he has now told stickybottle he is in his "happy place" on the climbs and in the hardest, longest races he rides.
The 17-year-old's progression to date is a text book case of how it should be done; starting out by cycling to school when he was aged "four or five" before joining Orwell Wheelers and "messing about" on his bike during the south Dublin club's Sunday morning sessions for kids on the Corkagh Park closed circuit.
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While O'Brien followed his father - "a leisure cyclist who goes out cycling with his mates" - into the sport, there was no pressure applied on him. And when he felt like drifting away from cycling aged 10 or 11, he was given the time and space to do that, only to return just as quickly.
He began racing in the U12 category but it wasn't until last year, when he started working with coach Andy Layhe, that he applied propert structure to his training. He then won his first race, the U16 event at the Sean Nolan Meath GP, with a solo attack.
Last Sunday week at the John Drumm Cup in Currow, Co Kerry, O'Brien and McDunphy (Lucan CRC), were clear together in the closing stages. McDunphy dropped O'Brien and went on to win solo while his junior rival was caught by Eoin Kelly (UCD CC) and beaten by him in the two-up sprint to decide 2nd and 3rd.
However, a 3rd place finish was an impressive result for O'Brien and backs up his theory the harder racing suits him best. He was also wearing the junior National Road Series leader's jersey in that race and his result saw him extend his series lead. Coupled with his A3-Junior Shay Elliott win, it seems O'Brien is emerging as a serious contender with fledgling climbing ability.
"Straight after the race I was absolutely buzzing," he said of his 3rd place in Currow, conceding he surprised himself on the day. "Throughout the race I felt so good I could just keep attacking and attacking. Coming 3rd was a bit of a surprise, especially with such good competition there.
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"And coming down the hill with Conn on the last lap I thought I had 2nd in the bag - though I actually didn't… But I was saying to myself 'how is this happening, it doesn't make sense'."
After wrapping up U16 racing last year, he said he spoke to his Orwell team mates Ronan O'Connor and Andrew Ryan about making the step up to the junior ranks. Both assured him the step up was manageable once he stepped up his hours on the bike during the winter.
"So myself and Andy set out to work in lots of hours on the bike during the winter; after school in the dark with the lights on," he said, adding he also rode some cyclocross races to ensure he did not grow bored for lack of competition.
While a bout of Covid-19 during the winter slowed him for a while, he shrugged it off and continued to prepare for this season. Having now impressed several times, he goes into this weekend's junior road race at the National Road Championships in Co Tyrone as a fancied rider.
"The nationals are a big target," he confirmed. "I'd love to get a podium there. And obviously wearing the national champ's jersey for the year would be unreal, but I'm not going in expecting that.
"And then the Junior Tour as well will be massive. I haven't had a chance yet to race abroad, so I'll get to race against the riders from all over the place and see how I fare with them. And hopefully there'll be some hard racing at the Junior Tour, with some hills where I can fly away, instead of having to attack on the flat where I just don't stand a chance really. Any (climb) that goes above about three or four percent and I'll be in my happy place."
O'Brien said it would be "proper cool" to be selected for the Irish junior team at some point and also to make the athlete development programme for next year - a Cycling Ireland scheme to support talented young riders. But for now, the teenager from Ballinteer is happy with his progress and is looking forward to lots more racing before he goes into 6th year in Wesley College in September.
"I feel like my fatigue resistance is really good after the winter training," he said. "At the beginning of the season in the 60-70k races I wasn't as good because the punchy guys still had fresh legs by the end. But now, even at (the John Drumm Cup), when I attacked on the second last lap I could tell everyone around me… their legs were getting heavier. But I still felt I had a bit in the tank, so that's nice."
