The Irish team pursuit line-up has gone through to the next round at the UCI World Track Championships after finishing 4th fastest in qualifying in France today.
The quartet - Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy and Emily Kay - recorded a time of 4:23.095 for the 4km event in Roubaix.
And while that time was some way off the national record they set just two weeks ago, of 4:21.202, it was still good enough to advance to the first round tomorrow.
Some of the bigger nations are not as heavily represented as usual at these Worlds as some riders are taking a break after the Olympic cycle.
Related News
And that meant there were just nine teams in the team pursuit qualifiers today, a smaller number than previous years. Germany, the Olympic champions, were present and they were fastest today, in a time of 4:13.082.
Advertisement
The Italians were next, at 1.094, and the British were 3rd quickest, some 3.118 down on the Germans. Ireland were 4th at 10.013, almost nine tenths of a second faster than Canada in 5th, some 10.906 down.
While the Irish women were not at the Olympic Games this year, they won the gold medal at the UCI World Cup in St Petersburg in July. Two of their number - Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin - also won gold and bronze in the individual pursuit at the same meeting.
Since then the Irish women have scored another historic first; becoming the first Irish team pursuit line-up to win a medal at a major championships when they took bronze at the Europeans two weeks ago, when they set their new national record.
The Irish quartet is now in real contention of making the medal ride-offs at these Worlds and the next best thing to a medal would be another lowering of their national record. They go again in Roubaix in the first round tomorrow, which begins at 5.30pm.
