Ireland’s Lynch on his way to gold in LA last night
Colin Lynch has brought Ireland’s medal tally to three at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles, blasting in for victory in the C2 individual pursuit last night (Friday) Irish time. He adds that new track world title to his road TT crown.
Lynch was by far the best of the field, proving fastest in the qualification round to set up a gold medal ride off with the Chinese world record holder.
Not to be daunted by the quality of the opposition, Lynch went out and rode a personal best and new Irish record of 3:51:640 to beat his opponent by a very considerable six seconds.
His win follows the gold already taken by Ireland’s tandem pursuit duo Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan, and the silver in the men’s tandem pursuit taken by James Brown and Damien Shaw.
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However, while Lynch was delighted to win the world title in a new personal best, his ride wasn’t without complication.
After a protest that he did not qualify as a C2 athlete, Lynch was forced to go through a review which confirmed him in the class. It was an unpleasant distraction for him from the business of the day.
Also in action on the track yesterday was Enda Smyth in the C3 3km individual pursuit. He set a new Irish record of 3:52.622 to finish 5th.
Cathal Miller also finished in 5th place in the C5 individual pursuit just outside a ride off for a bronze medal in a time of 4:50.611.
In yesterday afternoon’s session the Irish tandem pairings competed in the 1km TT following their exertions on Thursday in the pursuit events.
In the tandem 1km TT, Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Sandra Fitzgerald set a PB time of 1:16.4147 to give them a 12th place finish. The 3km pursuit world champions Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan finished in7th place in a time of 1:13.826.
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Silver medallists from Thursday, James Brown and Damien Shaw finished in 14th place in a time of 1:07.950 in the men’s 1km TT tandem. They were followed closely by Andy Fitzgerald and Con Collis in 17th place in a time of 1:08.233.
Today sees the single bike riders in action in the 1km individual pursuit.
Andy Fitzgerald and Con Collis in the 1km TT
Enda Smyth in the 3km pursuit
Fran Meehan and Catherine Walsh in the 1km TT
Damien Shaw and James Brown in the 1km TT
