Ciara Doogan has come closest to a medal in Athens, with Michael O'Loughlin lowering the junior national pursuit record and the men's junior team besting the junior team pursuit record.
Every now and then a young rider bubbling under for a long time puts in a massive performance on a big stage and jumps into the top echelon of their peers.
Today was young Ciara Doogan’s turn; the Donegal teenager coming within a whisker of taking Ireland’s first medal at the European Track Championships for U23 and junior riders in Athens, Greece.
Riding in the green of Ireland she finished an excellent 5th in the points race today, missing out on bronze by just two points.
And to compound the Irish girl’s frustration, she was level on points going into the last sprint with the rider who emerged with the bronze; Tessa Dijksman of the Netherlands.
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Still, after showing a lot of talent for a long time on the domestic scene, Doogan has now revealed herself as rider with the potential to perform on the biggest stages.
And Cycling Ireland’s high performance coaching Brian Nugent clearly shares that view.
“Ciara was excellent in what was her first international bunch event,” he said.
“(She) was very strong; I believe she will excel in these in the future.”
Before the medal race, Doogan finished second in her qualifying heat and she was one of six riders to gain a lap of the velodrome on the rest of the international field in the final.
She also placed 9th in the junior individual pursuit on Tuesday when the championships got underway.
Also in action today, junior riders Adam Stenson and Michael O’Loughlin both qualified comfortably for the points race finial with 4th and 6th respectively in their heats.
In the final they were to the fore, with Stenson taking 3rd in two sprints and finishing 9th on the day.
O’Loughlin put in some digs in an effort to gain a lap and perhaps win the race by doing so. But he was heavily marked and the glory or bust effort saw him finish in 22nd place.
He had gained two laps in the qualifying heat so was heavily marked in his efforts to do the same in the final. Stenson was 3rd in his heat on the way to the final.
Josie Knight, who took silver in the junior pursuit at the Europeans last year, finished 12th in the points race; the Kerry teenager riding the U23 race though she is still a junior.
Mark Downey, a silver medalist in the junior points race last year, and Javan Nulty both rode the 160-lap U23 points race today.
Downey took points in four of the sprints and Nulty in two during the testing 40km outing, with the pair finishing 15th and 16th respectively.
Sprinter Eoin Mullen was in action and was 14th in the qualifying round of the U23 sprint in a time of 10.349 seconds for what is effectively a flying 200m time trial sprint.
That was enough to put him into the next round, where the riders go head-to-head two at a time on the track in straight out sprints.
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He was drawn with Frenchman Thomas Copponi, who had too much for the Irishman and knocked him out of the competition.
Mullen will be disappointed with that as he was the bronze medal winner in the sprint at these championships last year.
Autumn Collins was also in action today, finishing 13th in the women’s points race qualifying heat followed by 18th in the junior 500metre TT.
National team coach Nugent said the group of young riders did very well as a team.
“The team performed very well today. With so many of the team making the finals it really put us in a good position for a medal.”
“Adam showed the speed he has and really shone when he went on the attack.
“With another year in the juniors he will be one to watch for the future. Josie did exceptionally well and stepped up to the level in the U23 event taking points and getting into the action.
“Today highlighted that there is a lot to be excited about for the future. We’re all focused on tomorrow and what we can achieve there.”
Yesterday, Wednesday, teenager Knight finished 15th out of 23 riders in the U23 individual pursuit with a time of 3m43.982s; the third fastest time ever by an Irish woman over the full 3km distance.
Michael O’Loughlin, who was 8th in the TT at the World Road Championships last September, and Declan Mulholland were 16th and 17th respectively from 24 starters in the junior 3km pursuit.
O’Loughlin’s 3m25.429s set a new national junior record and was just under six tenths of a second faster than Mulholland.
The new record is 1.5 seconds quicker than the previous marker, meaning while O’Loughlin smashed it Mulholland was also faster than the old record.
Also on Wednesday, the U23 men’s team pursuit squad of Fintan Ryan, Thomas Fallon, Mark Downey and Cormac Clarke finishing 12th in the qualifying round with a time of 4m12.969s.
Later in the evening Cathal Clarke – a brother of U23 team pursuiter Cormac - recorded a time of 1m06.858s on his way to 17th in the junior kilometre TT.
Tuesday was the opening day of the championships and saw a number of the Irish riders get their campaigns underway.
Doogan was 9th in the 2km individual pursuit and Collins was 17th in the sprint qualifier.
Sean Grimes was 21st in the qualifying round of the U23 individual pursuit with a time of 4.37.959s while Thomas Fallon was 23rd with a time of 4m41.02s.
Adam Stenson, Michael O'Loughlin, Cathal Clarke and Declan Mulholland set a new Irish record time of 4m22.735s on their way to 12th fastest in the junior men's team pursuit.
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