Josie Knight in action for Ireland during the European U23 Championships in Greece last week. The Kerry woman performed superbly and looks to be coming into some fine form for her big goal of the season - the Junior World Track Championships in Kazakhstan next month.
Rising Irish cycling star Josie Knight says she sometimes has to pinch herself to check is she in the middle of a dream, such is her love for what she does.
The Dingle woman only turned 18 years old in March but has spent much of the last year involved in the national track squad, travelling around the world for various races and training camps.
Her most recent engagement was the European U23 Track Championships in Greece where she went up against far more experienced riders – and came away with some very promising results.
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It was for experience that she went there and rode the U23 races despite being eligible to compete in the junior events.
When she hits the boards for the Junior World Track Championships in Kazakhstan in a few weeks she’ll be hoping to implement what she’s learnt.
“I’m absolutely loving being involved, it's like a dream,” she said.
“I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing; if someone told me a year ago I’d have done the European U23 championships, the UCI World Cups and the Senior Word Champs I’d have laughed at them.
“My life has taken off with this.”
Knight looked back on Greece with a mixture of regret and pride, with her scratch race crash making an already difficult task even more so.
She set the third fastest ever time by an Irishwoman going 3:43 in the 3k individual pursuit while in the points race she won a sprint and finished 12th overall.
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“The individual pursuit on the Wednesday went well. I was hoping to do a good time and I was delighted with that.
“The points race was really good but the scratch race crash messed me up for omnium. I went in hoping to do well and I just couldn’t because I was sore.”
Indeed, in a crash “entirely of my own making” she suffered some heavy bruising to her chest while her right side also took a good whack.
“That was all my fault, a rookie mistake, I attacked, was caught and was just pulling up to the right and there was someone there so I just went down when we collided.”
She’s definitely got the potential to medal at the World Championships next month, but prefers to keep expectation to a minimum.
“So much can happen. I don’t know what events I’ll be doing yet. The pursuit is one I will be doing but I’m not sure about what else so we’ll have to see.
“I just cannot wait, it’s one of the biggest races I've done and I just hope I can get 100 per cent out of myself on the day.”
The World Junior Track Championships run from the 19th to the 23rd of August.
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