After Ronan Grimes opened Ireland's account at the UCI World Paracycling Championships with a bronze in the individual pursuit, Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have taken a second medal for Team Ireland.
They also won bronze, in the WB tandem pursuit, after going up against the French pairing of Sophie Anne Centis and Elise Delzenne; beating them in the bronze medal ride-off on the Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow. That medal is a bonus for the Irish women as the multi world and Paralympic champions are road race and TT specialists.
Their time of 3:28.792 saw them finish 0.409 seconds ahead of their French rivals, securing third place on the podium on what was a busy day for Ireland, with the team pursuit quartet also in action as well as a host of other riders in other disciplines.
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"I'm emotional, really really relieved. I was just so nervous going into that race," said Dunlevy. "We didn't have a great ride the other day and we were working on a few things yesterday in the 1km TT - we were just trying to deliver what we did yesterday today. We just fought to the line and we were able to get that bronze medal. I can't quite believe it really."
In the team pursuit the Irish quartet of Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe, Emily Kay and Kelly Murphy placed 9th in a time of 4:21.653, which was over four seconds outside their Irish record set earlier this year at the Jakarta Nations Cup. With only eight teams to qualify, Ireland did not go through to the next round.
Kelly Murphy unfortunately suffered from some illness and with the Worlds carrying double Olympic qualification points, in what is a two-year qualification process, the Irish riders had hoped for a little more. However, they were ranked 9th in the world going into these championships, with the top 10 set to qualify for Paris, meaning they have gathered qualification points when some of their rivals have not.
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“We’ve got some vital qualification points (for the Olympics) there and put a bit of a gap or a buffer in between the teams that have been around us for those final qualification points," said Sharpe. "I’m excited for the madison, that’s Monday so I have a few days to recover from the team pursuit and I’m riding that with Lara so excited to do that.”
Emily Kay was 12th in the women’s scratch race while Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen were 7th in qualifying for the MB 1km TT, just missing out on a qualification though setting a new PB. Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin withdrew from the 1km TT on medical grounds.
Ronan Grimes set a new national record in the MC4 1km TT, finishing in 8th place with a time of 1:08.154. William Clifford finished 13th in the 1km TT in the MC3 category. Richael Timothy (WC3) and Chris Burns (MC2) were also in action yesterday, competing in the 200m TT; Burns in 2nd place. The non medal event forms part of the omnium with riders ranked on their results across four races.
Richael Timothy sits in 3rd place in her omnium after two events. The 500m TT takes place on Monday and scratch race on Tuesday completes the event.
In the Downhill World Championships elite men’s qualification, Ronan Dunne was a non-starter due to an injury. Former junior world champion, Oisin O'Callaghan, who has been battling back after an ankle injury, was Ireland’s highest finisher in 26th place. Chris Cumming finished in 58th, Niall Clerkin in 65th and Conor Bate was 68th. All riders are scheduled to compete in Saturday’s final.
Competing in the final of the junior men’s race, Callum Morris placed 26th. Morris completed the course in 4:45.773, improving on his time qualifying time.
