*The Irish jerseys on the Worlds podium in Canada; Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal taking the silver medal in the pursuit late last night Irish time*

Having won gold in the road race and TT at the World Road Championships three years in a row and taken Paralympic gold in Rio, Ireland's Golden Girls have notched up another big result.

Dominant tandem pairing Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal won silver in the pursuit at the Paracycling World Track Championships in Milton, Canada, late last night Irish time.

The duo shattered the previous Irish record over the distance but they came up against a formidable New Zealand tandem in rare form.

In qualifying Dunleavy and McCrystal clocked a time of
3:27.358 to lower their own national record for the 3km distance by over three
seconds.

That saw them finish second-fastest and meant they qualified for the gold-silver ride-off later in the day.

In that head-to-head they were up against New Zealand’s Emma Foy and Hannah Van Kampen.

*Ireland's Golden Girls on their way to silver; switching their road prowess onto the velodrome*

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The Kiwis set a blistering pace to finish top in
qualifying with a new world record of 3:20.819.

That ensured the Irish pair went into the final with it all to do against rivals who were clearly in the form of their lives.

While Dunlevy and McCrystal are road specialists, they are also experienced on the boards and used to performing, and winning, under extreme pressure.

However, even though they gave it all they had to try and capture gold, the Kiwis were simply too strong.

New Zealand led from the first time check and stopped the clock at 3:23.163; Ireland claiming silver in 3:31.396.

Griet Hoet and Anneleen Monsieur of Belgium won the bronze medal ride-off to complete the podium line-up.

Dunlevy and McCrystal will race next in the tandem TT on Sunday; a short, sharp affair of all-out speed over four laps of the 250 metre track.

Irish Results: Milton World Champs

Women C3 Pursuit Qualifying - Richael Timothy – 8th (4:25.302 / 40.708 kph)
Men C2 Pursuit Qualifying - Chris Burns – 12th (3:58.059 / 45.367 kph)
Men C4 Kilo TT - Ronan Grimes (1:09.438 / 51.845 kph)
Women’s Tandem Pursuit - Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal – Silver (3:27.358 / 52.084 kph)
Men's Tandem Pursuit - Peter Ryan & Anthony Walsh – 9th (4:27.230 / 53.886 kph)
Men's Tandem Pursuit - Damien Vereker & Marcin Mizgajski – 10th (4:29.736 / 53.886 kph)
Women C3 500m TT - Richael Timothy – 6th (43.338 / 41.534 kph)