World Champs: Mark Downey disappointed but vows to return
Lydia Boylan put in a solid performance in her four-event omnium event but had to be content with ninth overall on the day. She has another chance to show herself tomorrow when she pairs up with Anna Turvey in the Madison.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s big medal hope at the UCI Track World Championships, Mark Downey, was left bitterly disappointed after his 40-kilometre points race on the boards this afternoon.
The 20-year old Banbridge man was a commendable 10th in his elite Worlds debut. But he said that during the race he was probably a victim of his recent own success.
Indeed, after winning gold in two World Cups already this season he came into the race as one of the favourites. But against another a star-studded field it was always going to be extremely difficult.
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Downey was tracked everywhere he went and on a number of occasions his surges were brought back and countered, leaving him deep in the red and having to chase time and again.
He wasn’t deterred by that and in fact he expected it. He tried in vain to take a lap at one point.
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He attacked with 44 of the 160 laps remaining but never quite managed to reach the heights of Apeldoorn and Cali in the UCI World Cups this season.
The race was dominated by Australia’s Cameron Meyer who won gold with Kenny de Ketele (Belgium) taking silver and Wojciech Pszczolarski (Poland) taking bronze.
While disappointed with the result, Downey kept his head up afterwards.
“I think I was a marked man in the race, and didn’t know how to deal with that position,” he said.
“Every time I made a move it was counter-attacked. It’s frustrating, but it’s not the last chance I’ll ever have. Tomorrow morning I’ll be able to take positives from the race,” he said.
He’s back in action again on Sunday when he goes alongside Felix English in the Madison.
Elsewhere today, national road race champion Lydia Boylan finished ninth in her omnium.
Gold went to Team GB’s Katie Archibald ahead of Kirsten Wild (Holland) and Amy Cure (Australia).
Next up for Ireland is Anna Turvey in the 3km individual pursuit tomorrow along with the women’s madison pairing of Lydia Gurley and Boylan.
Turvey will be aiming to emulate the performance that saw her take bronze in the pursuit at the European Championships last October.
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