Caroline Ryan was 5th in the individual pursuit at the UCI Track Worlds in Minsk today, Wednesday (photo: Larry Hickmott - Velouk.net)
Caroline Ryan hit the high point of her career last year at the UCI Track World Championships in winning a bronze medal, and while she could not repeat that achievement on the same stage again today in Belarus, her 5th place in the individual pursuit still ranks as a truly world class ride.
Last year in Melbourne, Ryan made the podium in the points race but today it was in a race of truth around the track on the opening day of the 2013 Worlds where she showed her medal of 12 months ago was no fluke and that she is perhaps a more accomplished rider now.
Ryan recorded a time of 3mins 38.269 in the 3km test, less than half a second down on 4th placed rider Laura Brown of Canada, who went forward to the head to head ride-off for the bronze medal.
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Ryan started off quite slowly compared to those around her and will perhaps regret that decision given how close she was to Brown at the end.
She went through the opening kilometre in a time of 1:15.251, almost 1½ seconds down on Brown. She was quicker than the Canadian over the second kilometre – 1:10.549 for Ryan against 1:11.815 for Brown. However, Ryan then relinquished just over four tenths of a second to her rival in the final kilometre.
Sarah Hammer of the US recorded the fastest time of 3.30.206. The Olympic silver medallist was due to compete against Amy Cure of Australia for gold later today, Wednesday, while Brown and Annette Edmondson of Australia were due to go head to head in the race for bronze.
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Speaking after the event, Irish head coach Brian Nugent described Ryan’s performance as “a great way to start our World Championships”, for the three-strong Irish team.
“Top five in the world for the second year running is a lot to be proud of by Caroline and for Ireland, especially in the tough individual pursuit.”
Track coach Andy Sparks said: “The result today was superb, and shows that Caroline is one of the top riders in the world. We are excited about the points and scratch (races) still to come.”
Martyn Irvine will race tomorrow in the individual pursuit and the scratch race. London Olympian Irvine has been showing good form in recent months, taking a silver medal in both of these events at the World Cup in Glasgow in December.
The individual pursuit is first up; a 4km time trial. The two fastest riders in qualifying then go head to head on the track to settle gold and silver, with the third and fourth fastest meeting each other to settle the bronze. Meanwhile, the scratch race is a 15km bunch event, where the winner is the first person over the line.
The third member of the Irish team at the Worlds, teenager Eoin Mullen will compete in coming days in the sprint.
Thursday Schedule
- Men’s Individual Pursuit: Martyn Irvine (10am Irish time approx)
- Men’s Scratch Race: Martyn Irvine (5pm Irish time approx)
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