The Irish tandem pairing of Martin Gordon and pilot Eoin Mullen set a personal best and broke the national record in the men's B 1,000m TT at the Paris Paralympics.
Damien Verker and pilot Mitchell McLaughlin were also in action in the same event and after a solid display on the boards, and getting their first Paralympics outings under their belts, they are now looking forward to the road events at the Games.
Gordon and Mullen secured a place in the final when they finished fifth in the first round in a time of 1:01.158, setting a new Irish national record.
They went a little slower in the next round - clocking 1:01.520 - which ultimately saw them place 5th; a result and a time they were very happy with, especially after a recent crash just before they were set to race.
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“It’s just like the one that went this morning, it’s a clean a start, it’s four laps of the track, it’s an absolute all-out effort," said Gordon of the duo's second ride which delivered them to 5th. "The tactics are to go as fast as you can for four laps, keep it as tight as possible on the lines.
“Eoin was just saying the lines were tighter on that effort but it was marginally slower. Everyone got marginally slower this afternoon but to back up the national record this morning, two and half hours later to go three tenths of a second slower it’s backed up, it’s a good result. It shows massive effort on our part. We’re happy with it.
“We had a bad crash on Monday, we didn’t know if we would be here at all today. Our coaches, our physios, our doctors, our psychs, the mechanics, everyone who got us on that line today. Where we were on Monday I would have taken the hand off you for what we just did today. I am pleased, I am.
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“It was an unfortunate accident. One of the other nations’ tandems had a blowout in front of us. They came down, left us with nowhere to go. It was just one of those freak accidents on an open track. We had to go over the top of them. We came down.”
Mullen - a well known successful competitor on the international stage turned tandem pilot - said the individual pursuit gave him and Gordon an opportunity to see how they were feeling after the crash.
“Thursday, the pursuit, that was like a trial to see if my shoulder could get through it. It held up, it wasn’t perfect, it was enough to get us through. Not to make excuses," he said.
James Ball, piloted by Steffan Lloyd, of Great Britain took the gold medal in the 1,000 event, in which Vereker and McLaughlin finished in 10th place in a time of 1:06.740.
“It was an amazing experience being here on track together again, there was an incredible light show before the start," Vereker said. "The kilo is always a tough one, really fast, really hard but it was a good blowout. The support ha, it’s been incredible, it’s getting better and better, just deadly.”
Mitchell said while he and Vereker were happy with their outing on the track, they were now focused on the road.
“The (road) time trial is our main event and also the road race so we’re glad to get the track done and focus more on what we’re better at," he said.
“The atmosphere here in the velodrome, with all the Irish fans, has been fantastic so thanks to them for travelling over and supporting us. It’s been amazing so far.”
