Irish women dig deep, go out of World Championships on high

The Irish team pursuit line-up has not advanced to the medal ride-offs at the Worlds but they have set another new national record

The Irish team pursuit line-up has fallen short of a
medal ride-off at the World Track Championships in France just 24 hours after
finishing 4th in qualifying.

We’re determined to make stickybottle.com much better for your enjoyment. We’re asking for your support to do that. So become a ‘Stickybottle Supporter’ now from just €5 per month. Every cent will fund more stories, and better stories, about Irish cycling.

Support us for €5 per month

However, while the Irish quartet went out in the first round today, they did so while pulling a new national record out of the bag.

The new marker of 4:21.126 was
marginally faster than the 4:21.202 they set on their way to the bronze
medal at the European Championships in Switzerland a fortnight ago.

The ability of Kelly Murphy, Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe
and Emily Kay to lower the Irish record twice in the space of a couple of weeks
shows they are continuing to make progress.

And though Lara Gillespie is currently out of action
after injury, she will eventually return to the set-up to bolster it further,
bringing more strength in depth.

The Irish woman started their Worlds effort in Roubaix yesterday with 4th fastest in qualifying. And if they had repeated that placing today in the first round they would have advanced towards the bronze medal ride-off.

Instead, Italy and Germany went forward for the gold-silver ride-off and Great Britain and Canada, whom Ireland had beaten in the qualifiers, progressed to the bronze medal ride-off.

While Ireland marginally beat Canada in the qualifying round, the Canadians really upped their game in the first round today; riding the 4km distance in 4:20.191, almost a second faster than the Irish.