Mia Griffin and Lara Gillespie have finished in the top 10 in the Madison event at the European Championships in Germany. The duo, who are not yet used to competing as a partnership on the international stage, finished in 9th place today after Griffin bounced back from an early crash.
For Gillespie the championships were a return to top flight elite level after a tough year blighted by injury and illness. And after competing for Ireland in today's Madison and in the team pursuit last week - helping secure a 6th place finish - the 21-year-old appears to be firmly back on track.
Griffin sustained some damage to the ac joint in her shoulder as a result of her crash today. However, after recent top performances on the road, the 23-year-old is hopeful that she can make the road race at the Europeans this weekend.
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Today in the Madison, six of the 12 teams were lapped by the strongest nations, with some lapped seven times in what was a hectic event. The gold medal was won by Italy’s Rachele Barbieri and Silvia Zanardi - Barbieri also winning the omnium yesterday. Silver was claimed by the French with Denmark taking bronze.
Also in action today for Ireland was the sole sprinter in the national team, Orla Walsh. She race the Keirin, which featured 18 riders, with the first round split into three heats of six riders. From each of those three years, the two top riders going into the semi-final while the others go into a repechages in a bid to qualify for the semi finals.
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In Walsh's 'Heat 3' one of the riders did not start, making for a five-rider race, with the Irish competitor placing 4th, meaning she did not qualify for the semi final. However, when she raced the repechage 'Heat 2' she was 2nd in the four-rider race and so booked her place in the semi final.
In that semi final she placed sixth in the six-rider race. That meant she did not go through to the six-rider final to decide placings 1st through 6th but she still go to ride the race that decided 7th to 12th. Walsh was 6th in that six-rider race meaning she took 12th overall of the 17 starters in the keirin competition.
Cycling Ireland's new head track coach, Dan Henchy, said he was happy with the Irish team's performances at the championships, the best results of which were 6th in the team pursuit and Kelly Murphy's 6th in the individual pursuit. Murphy set a new national record in that event while Walsh set a new national record in 200m qualifying round of the sprint, which ranked her 14th.
“I can’t fault the team’s efforts this week. It’s been a mixed bag, some real highs with a few national records obviously with Kelly’s result in the individual pursuit and Orla too and then quite a few bumps and bruises for those who have come down in crashes," he said.
“Whenever you take a team away to a championship event you always get the highs and lows, but I think a few riders will need a bit of recovery and we’ve learned a lot to take into the World Championships and later in the year and then Olympic qualifying starting early next year.”
Madison | Result
