Murphy puts in big pursuit at Worlds as ex-Irish rider Knight excels

Kelly Murphy during her very impressive ride in the individual pursuit at the UCI World Track Championships in Paris

Kelly Murphy has broken her own Irish record in the individual pursuit at the UCI World Track Championships in Paris; the 32-year-old continue to get faster and faster as her international career continues.

Meanwhile, former Irish international Josie Knight, now riding for Great Britain, smashed the British national record in qualifying and then went out to pull the ride of her life of out the bag to take a medal.

Team Ireland's Murphy set a time of 3:25.424 in qualifying, which saw her finish in 7th position, a fantastic ride at this level. With just the top four riders to advance to the next round - the head-to-head ride-offs for gold-silver and bronze-4th - it meant Murphy did not go any further.

However, 7th place in this 21-rider event at the Worlds is a very strong result for Murphy, who was understandably very pleased with her performance and lowering her previous Irish record of 3:26.362, set at the Europeans in Munich in August when she finished 6th.

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Murphy was also part of the Irish team pursuit line-up at the Worlds in Paris which finished in 8th place on the opening day of racing on Wednesday.

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Meanwhile, Josie Knight (25) clocked a time of 3:20.792 in qualifying, absolutely wiping out the previous best British marker of 3:23.476 set by Neah Evans this year at the Commonwealth Games. That time put Knight in 4th position in qualifying.

She went on to face German Mieke Kroger in the bronze medal ride. And though Knight trailed the German for most of the race, she came back very strongly in the closing stages to beat her to the bronze; a big result for Knight.

The gold-silver scrap was between Franziska Brausse of Germany, who was fastest in qualifying, and Bryony Botha of New Zealand; the Germany taking the gold medal and rainbow bands.

Orla Walsh was also in action today in the 500m TT. She was 21st in qualifying in a 25-rider field, clocking a time of 34.765. With eight riders qualifying for the next phase of the competition, Walsh went no further.

The Irish madison duo of Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin were also in action this evening. They endured a difficult outing - Griffin getting caught up in a crash when some of the lights in the velodrome failed - and were 13th in the 18-team race.

More to come.