Ireland’s Mullen is still only aged 19 years but he’s improving very quickly indeed
Eoin Mullen underlined the rapid progress his career has been making over the past 12 to 18 months when he put in something of a breakthrough performance at the UCI World Cup meeting in Mexico at the weekend.
The 19-year-old from the Aran Islands, who is now based in Switzerland, broke the 10 second barrier for the first time in his career for the 200 metre sprint flying start TT.
Mullen blasted home in a time of 9.965, a new national record. He was 23rd in a field of 49 riders with only the top 16 to progress through to the next rounds.
However, another year of progress like the last one would see him move rapidly towards the top of tier of big time sprinting on the world stage.
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His time in Mexico was not only a new personal best and national record, but was half a second faster than his former personal best; a massive improvement in such a short and fast event. He averaged an eye watering 72.252km per hour.
He had only last month equalled his previous personal best at the World Cup in Glasgow.
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Mullen has been based in the UCI’s World Cycling Centre in Aigle for much of the last two years, with that base and coaching he’s receiving there clearly starting to pay off in a very significant way.
He was seven one hundredths of a second off being in the top 16 that progressed through to the next round on the boards in Mexico this weekend.
The event was won by Denis Dmitriev (Russia). Max Neiderlag of Germany won silver, with Juan Gascon Peralta (Spain) taking bronze.
Irish coach Brian Nugent said: “Eoin recorded a very fast time in the 200m sprint. He came here looking for a new Irish record and achieved that comfortably with a great ride. This time it was just outside the top 16, but Eoin is consistently getting faster.”
Mullen had a disappointing ride in his other race at the meeting. He was 6th of six riders in the first round heat of the keirin and fifth of five in his repechage.
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