Irish women stun Germans in European Champs battle

The Irish women's track team have put in a storming ride in the first round of the European Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland today, breaking the national record they broke last night and making the 5/6 finals against Italy.

By Brian Canty

The Irish senior women’s track squad have enjoyed their best ever performance on the boards today after setting a new national record at the European Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland.

The quartet of national road race champion Lydia Boylan, Mel Spath, Josie Knight and Caroline Ryan were in absolutely blistering form over the 4k test against the clock where they set a time of 4.31.666.

Amazingly, the team broke the national record in qualifying last night when they went 4.35.090 and that was enough to see them finish eighth of 10 teams who advanced to today’s first round where they were paired against the Germans.

It was a formidable task the Irish women faced, especially as the Germans had went fifth fast in qualifying last night, some 1.7 seconds faster than the Irish.

But incredibly, the Irish women made light of their underdog status and went a whopping four seconds faster than last night, shattering the national record again.

The same four women went in Heat 2 of 4 today and despite trailing through the first three kilometres, they managed to claw back the deficit and cross the line less than a second ahead of the Germans.

That last kilometre by the Irish quartet was really something as they went a whole two seconds faster than the Germans.

It means they’ll race against the Italians tonight in the 5^th/6^th place final.

Italy were third fastest in qualifying last night and were beaten by Russia in the first round earlier today, but their times of 4.32 and 4.30 will not strike too much fear into the Irish.

As expected, Team GB are the team to beat and they face Russia in the gold medal ride-off tonight with Belarus and Poland squaring off in the race for bronze.

Also in action later is Martyn Irvine in the scratch race and Josie Knight in the points race.