Just 24 hours after smashing their own national record by over two seconds, a huge margin, the Irish women's team pursuiters have again set a new record at the UCI Nations Cup in Jakarta. They clocked a time of 4.16.877 in 'Round 1' of the competition this morning, having ridden 4.17.525 in qualifying.
Their progress yesterday and today means they are now almost three seconds quicker than the record they set at the Europeans in Switzerland two weeks ago. When this group first got together just over four years ago, the national record in the 4km event was 4:31.666, set in 2015 by Caroline Ryan, Lydia Boylan, Josie Knight and Melanie Spath.
The strides now being made by Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie and Mia Griffin come just at the right time as the recent European Track Championships began the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification process. The Nations Cup they are now racing at also counts as part of the qualification process.
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However, competition in the team pursuit is fierce, with many established nations having a very long tradition in the event and top World Tour road riders to choose from. It means qualifying for Paris will be a very difficult task, though the Irish women are clearly still advancing significantly as a unit.
In qualifying yesterday they finished 5th fastest and so were one of the eight teams to advance to today's 'Round 1'. They were paired against Italy today and had to finish one of the four fastest teams to make the medal ride-offs later today.
While the Irish comfortably beat the Italians - by more than eight seconds - they were once again 5th fastest, meaning they do not advance to the medal ride-offs.
New Zealand were fastest again, with a time of 4:10.651, and in the gold-silver ride-off will face France, who clocked a time of 4:11.870 today. Great Britain were 3rd fastest (4:12.863) and will face Australia (4:16.217) in the ride-off for bronze.
