Martyn Irvine has sealed his place at the London Olympics, becoming the first Irish cyclist to do so, following his fine seventh in the omnium at the UCI World Track Championships in Melbourne.
Irvine rode very well in the latter stages of the six-event competition, taking fourth in the individual pursuit today, followed by ninth in the scratch race and sixth in the one kilometre TT.
Those placings on the second day of the two-competition were enough to see him take seventh in the final standings. He had been 10th in the standings when the first three events were complete on the first day of competition on Friday.
The multi national track champion came into the Worlds sitting in seventh place in the European standings. He needed to be in the top eight after these championships in order to qualify for the London Olympics.
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With Denmark and Poland, who were just behind him in the European rankings, failing to gain enough ranking points in Melbourne over the past two days to overhaul him, Irvine is still in seventh place in the European rankings.
The World Championships were the last event that counted towards Olympic qualification meaning his qualification for London 2012 is now official.
That’s an absolutely fantastic performance by Irvine, who has had to contend with a couple of spills at recent World Cup meetings, not to mention disqualification in Astana.
The road to qualification has been a very long one for the 26-year-old from Ards, Co Down. It began in Poland in November 2010 and has seen him take in eleven ranking events all over the world since then.
The 2011 An Post Ras stage winner will now return to road racing for a few months with his Asian-based RTS Racing Team alongside longtime team mate David McCann.
Both are likely to ride the An Post Ras again this year, before Irvine returns to his track base in Palma where he will work under the guidance of coach Andy Sparks to prepare for the Olympics.
Cycling Ireland’s chief executive Geoff Liffey said he was delighted with Irvine’s qualification, pointing out it had been done with limited financial resources and at a time when there was no velodrome in Ireland.
He added Irvine’s performances coupled with Caroline Ryan’s bronze medal in the points race yesterday underlined the potential for track cycling in Ireland.
Men’s Omnium Final Overall
1) Glenn O’Shea (Australia) 22
2) Zach Bell (Canada) 28
3) Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) 29
4) Ed Clancy (Great Britain) 29
5) Shane Archbold (New Zealand) 38
6) Ho Sung Cho (Korea) 44
7) Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 49
8 ) Bryan Coquard (France) 61
9) Gijs Van Hoecke (Belgium) 62
10) Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) 72
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Rounds 6 through to 1…..
Today, Saturday
1KM TT
1) Ed Clancy (Great Britain) 1:01.948
2) Glenn O’Shea (Australia) 1:03.042
3) Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) 1:03.102
6) Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 1:04.081
Scratch race
1) Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark)
2) Zach Bell (Canada)
3) Shane Archbold (New Zealand)
9) Martyn Irvine @ 1 lap
Individual Pursuit
1) Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) 4:22.33
2) Zach Bell (Canada) 4:26.785
3) Ed Clancy (Great Britain) 4:27.643
4) Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 4:28.158
Yesterday, Friday
Elimination
1) Bryan Coquard (France)
2) Glenn O'Shea (Australia)
3) Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland)
14) Martyn Irvine (Ireland)
Points race
1) Elia Viviani (Italy) 43 points
2) Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) 34
3) Zach Bell (Canada) 29
8 ) Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 7
Flying Lap
1) Edward Clancy (Great Britain) 12.881
2) Shane Archbold (New Zealand) 13.086
3) Glenn O'Shea (Australia) 13.137
8 ) Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 13.409
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