By Shane Stokes
Ireland’s team pursuit squad moved a step closer to Olympic qualification with a strong ride in the European championships, finishing up fourth after two days of action and two separate crashes.
They were up against world record holders and Olympic champions Germany in Thursday’s bronze medal final in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
The latter team were expected to come out best, as per past form and also the times set on Wednesday.
The Irish quartet of Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin dug deep and limited the losses early on, going through the one kilometre point less than half a second behind. The gap grew from there, increasing to over a second at the halfway point, more than three and a half seconds at 3000 metres and then over six and a half seconds at the end.
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Germany finished with 4:14.768, while Ireland’s pace was 4:21.539.
The result was still an encouraging one for the team, which secured additional points towards Olympic qualification.
It followed a complicated day on Wednesday when Gillespie, Murphy, Sharpe and Erin Creighton crashed during the qualification round. They were granted a second run and duly set a time of 4 minutes 23.807 for the 4,000 metre distance, good enough for fifth.
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Up against Switzerland in Wednesday evening’s round one, Creighton was replaced by Griffin, as planned. The squad was comfortably quicker than their rivals, catching them just over halfway and recording a time of 4 minute 20.881.
This was ten seconds faster that their rivals, who spread out up the track in pushing for the finish line. However unlucky timing saw them pass the decelerating Irish riders at exactly that point, with Gillespie and Murphy moving up the track to avoid them, coming together at the top of the banking and both falling.
Sharpe rode over Murphy’s arm and also crashed, sliding into the rear wheel of Gillespie’s bike and suffering a cut to her nose from the visor on her helmet.
Switzerland was later disqualified, but the Irish effort had already been enough to secure a place in the bronze medal final on Thursday evening. And while they finished just outside the medals, it was mission accomplished in terms of consolidating its solid Olympic qualification hopes.
Ireland started the Europeans ninth in the world rankings with the top ten teams to qualify for Paris 2024.
Three track Nation Cup races remain as counting events, with the points from the best two of those to be considered.
The Irish riders are due to compete in the Adelaide round (Feb 2-4), then Hong Kong (March 15–17). The third round, that of Milton in Canada, is not on the schedule at present but can be relied upon if Olympic qualification depends on it.
That round will be held between April 12th and 14th.
The European track championships continue this week with Griffin also going in the scratch race on Thursday evening.
