The Irish team pursuit squad has pulled a great performance out of the bag at the Tissot UCI Nations Cup in Cairo, Egypt, today when they beat Great Britain in 'Round 1'. They have now progressed to the bronze medal ride-off.
The Irish women - Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin - were 7th of 15 teams in qualifying yesterday. They recorded a time of 4:32.464, well outside their new national record though the track in Cairo is outdoors.
With eight teams to qualify for today's first round, the Irish team went through. They were racing on the track this morning, matched with Great Britain. And though the British had finished 6th in qualifying yesterday, there was just a fraction of a second between them and the Irish.
During their 'Round 1' ride today, the Irish women were just over 6.1 seconds faster than the British, with the women in green recording a time of 4:23.637. Crucially, that time by Ireland today was among the four fastest of the eight teams in 'Round 1'.
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The two fastest teams - New Zealand and France - now face each other in the gold-silver ride-off. Germany and Ireland, who were 3rd and 4th fastest, will now face off to decide the bronze medal.
That will be a tough race for the Irish as the Germans are the Olympic champions, winning gold in Tokyo in 2021 in a world record time. The Germans were also six seconds faster than the Irish in 'Round 1' today.
However, having finished 5th in the last UCI Nations Cup in Indonesia, where they shattered their own national record, and also having placed 5th at the recent Europeans in Switzerland, the Irish are guaranteed 4th place - and may yet win bronze - at the ongoing Nations Cup meeting in Cairo.
They will ride against Germany in the bronze medal ride-off later today.
