Ireland has a new world hour record holder; Colin Lynch absolutely smashing the old marker set in 1999.
A silver medal winner at the Paralympic Games in Rio, Colin Lynch has added another special piece of history to his palmares in breaking the hour record.
His 43.133km marker is the first paracycling hour record ever officially recognised by the UCI.
But the former world champion also bettered by 1.8 km the unofficial record set by France’s Laurent Thirionet in 1999 in the C2 category
The 45-year-old won silver in the road TT in Rio having narrowly missed out in a pursuit medal ride off in the 2012 Olympics.
He has also collected a range of other top achievements since making his international debut including taking the road TT title in Denmark in 2011 and the individual pursuit at the track Worlds in LA four years ago.
Advertisement
He went into the London Paralympics on the back of those results and was bitterly disappointed to be pipped for a place in the bronze medal ride-off.
Colin Lynch now has an absolutely brilliant CV; his hour record coming right after his Paralympic silver and he has also won two world titles in the past.
However, having run a successful crowd funding campaign for a new carbon fibre lower leg, he has now secured a Paralympic silver and now the hour record, which he took this afternoon on the Manchester velodrome.
Related News
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he said after what looked like a savage effort.
“It was near-perfect for the first 40 minutes but the last 20 minutes is where it really starts to hurt.
“With about five minutes to go I knew I was going to beat the record and was hanging on to make sure I set a strong new mark.”
He added he was now riding high after a dream few weeks. “It’s been an amazing year for me and this was the perfect way to cap it off,” he said.
In the rainbow stripes as individual pursuit world champion on the track back in 2012.
“I hope the record will stand for a while now, but also hope this will start other paracycling riders in all categories to test the record books.”
He planned to take some time off and before coming back and trying to win the TT title at the Worlds again.
UCI president Brian Cookson extended his congratulations, saying Lynch’s achievement would “stand in history as the first ever paracycling UCI hour record”.
“Colin had great success at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and today’s achievement comes as icing on the cake,” Cookson said.
“I’m sure he will be an inspiration for many other riders to take on this iconic record.”
Topics
