A former winner at the Worlds and Europeans, Ronan Grimes has gone closest to a medal ride - so far - of the Irish cyclists at the Paralympic Games in Paris;
Grimes came close to a medal ride-off in the C4 4000m individual pursuit, being nudged out of 4th place - which would have seen him advance to the medal fight - by French rider Gatien Le Rousseau.
Ireland's Grimes clocked a time of 4:28.859, beating his own personal best and national record set in the UCI World Championships in Glasgow last year.
In the women’s B 1000m time trial, Ireland had two tandem pairings in action; Katie-George Dunlevy, piloted by Eve McCrystal, and Josephine Healion, piloted by Linda Kelly.
Dunlevy and McCrystal posted a time of 1:09.094 to come fifth in qualifying which saw them progress to the final. In the final, the pair finished fifth overall, in a time of 1:09.447.
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Healion and Kelly beat their personal best by three seconds, finishing in a time of 1:10.808. That time left them in seventh place, with the six fastest times qualifying for the final.
Richael Timothy - in the C1-3 500m Time Trial - also recorded a national record and personal best. She stopped the clock in a time of 41.937 seconds in the qualifying round, placing her 10th. She now looks ahead to the road events, getting underway on Wednesday.
Grimes said while he was very happy with his time, and his overall performance, he was disappointed to see the French rider coming through and knocking him out of 4th.
"Before today only three riders had ever gone under 4:30, I think there will be a few more later on but to join that club I think is something I should be very proud of and it is something I am very proud of," he said.
“Happy with that, maybe a bit disappointed I don’t think it will get me a ride off but on the other side of it that’s something I’ll have forever. Last year I did a time that I didn’t think was in me and I was sick in March for World Championships and I did a slow time.
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"There was a bit of pressure coming on myself wanting to PB but kind of doing the splits in me head and saying I don’t know if I have that in me, I came nowhere near to it in training.
“I mean credit to the coaches, credit to Jamie (Blanchfield, Cycling Ireland national paracycling coach), he knows how to get you in shape. That’s more his result as my result. He dictated the training and he got that result as much as I did.”
Timothy said she was “delighted" with her performance, adding she "couldn’t have done any more than that" especially riding a specialist sprint event which she only started for experience.
"I suppose the road is kind of take it as it comes, anything can happen, especially in the Road Race. So I’m just going to get as much rest, recovery, we’ll get out on the road on Tuesday then see what it’s like, then hopefully we’ll all do well next week.”
Though Dunlevy and McCrystal - the dominant athletes of the multi sport Irish team at the last two Paralympics - are in Paris for more medals, and gold ones at that, they have always be road specialists. Against that backdrop, Dunlevy said they were happy with 5th in the 1km as many other tandem pairings were specialists in the event.
"It just gives us confidence that we are doing well, and our power is good for Sunday,” she said. “Preparations were not ideal coming to a Paralympic Games. Three months ago I broke my collarbone in a Road Race with Eve in Italy.
"Shattered it, had an operation, so I have the recovery from that and trying to get myself fit on a bike and ready for the training camps, and ready to get in a Time Trial position with a lot of pins and plates in arms and shoulder.
“I’m still working hard on my shoulder now and doing rehab for it and it still gives me pain, but that eases every day. I’m controlling what I can control, that’s just working on what I can do and trying to get myself ready.
“I’m a very positive person, very optimistic, I never look back, just looking ahead that I’m going to be in Paris. I’m lucky that I didn’t do my hip, and I didn’t break my leg and that I am here in Paris because a lot of people they get injured and miss out on a Games.
"I’m here and I’m racing and I’m healthy. Except that a few days ago I did have a virus, and I was in bed for three days as well, so do you know what – things are set to try us and we battle on.”
