Ryan Mullen on the track in Cali, Colombia, where he has blasted his way into the bronze medal ride off later tonight in the individual pursuit
By Brian Canty
Ireland's Ryan Mullen has scorched into the bronze medal ride-off in the 4km individual pursuit at the UCI Track World Championships in Cali, Colombia this evening.
The 19-year-old clocked a blistering time of 4 minutes 22.419 seconds in qualifying, beating his opponent Alexandr Evtushenko of Russia, who clocked 4:22.966.
Mullen was fastest over the opening 2km of the 20 competitors; who went head to head in 10 heats to decide which two would ride off for gold and silver later and also go head to head for the bronze.
His pace over the first half of the event suggests Mullen is in stunning form. He will go into tonight's bronze medal ride-off against New Zealand's Marc Ryan with a little bit of ground to make up but will no doubt be bursting with confidence.
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The Kiwi clocked 4:21.865 in qualifying, more than half a second quicker than the Irish man, though Mullen is very much a man for the big occasion. His medal race takes place at around 1:25am Irish time.
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The last time an Irish rider went in a bronze medal ride-off on the world stage was Caroline Ryan in the UCI World Cup in December in Mexico. She too was slower in the qualifiers than her rival for the bronze but turned the table when it mattered, taking the medal.
Mullen will be looking to follow that example when he rides for the medal later. The outdoor nature of the track perhaps suits a man like him who was brought up on time trials compared to the track specialists that make up the bulk of the fields at these Worlds.
One name absent from the medal ride-offs tonight is Martyn Irvine. He got into the gold medal head to head in Minsk last year and came home with silver.
However, having suffered two very bad crashes over the past year, he had been in comeback mode for most of that period and had to settle for 12th in today’s qualifiers.
He clocked 4:26.525 and will be hoping for a better result in the scratch race later tonight - at around 12:25am. He will be defending the title he won in Minsk, where he gave Irish cycling an afternoon never to be forgotten.
Individual Pursuit Qualifying, Top 15
