Olympic medalist Murphy not ruling out making Irish cycling team

By Dara Smith-Naughton

Most would know Annalise Murphy as Ireland’s first and only woman to win a sailing medal at the Olympics. However, she is now a three-time national cycling champion and has told stickybottle she is very much not ruling out the possibility of representing Ireland on the track.

Though she won her three track titles – in the individual pursuit, team pursuit and Madison – on a bike borrowed from international rider Cian Keogh, Murphy shrugged off the lack of preparation to well and truly launch her second sporting career, at the age of 33 years.

“I don’t actually have my own track bike,” she said. “Cian had to loan his bike to me. We had to swap the pedals and adjust the seat height in between our races.”

Her wins point to a rider full of confidence and who is not afraid to mix it up at the front, with the engine to match. However, winning an event as technically demanding as the Madison – alongside her childhood friend and Hotel-NCW Wheelers teammate, Ellen Ni Cleirigh – also points to an aptitude for the finer points of track racing.

Making the switch from sailing to cycling was one of relative ease for the Olympian. “Sailing is a pure endurance sport,” she said. “I trained 10 to 15 hours a week on the bike. After Tokyo I wanted to have a go at racing, because I’ve been cycling for most of my life.”

She has taken inspiration from the switch from ski jumping to cycling made by four-time Grand Tour winner, and Olympic TT champion, Primož Roglič.

“I met him on the highest pass in Europe, I was so starstruck,” she said of a chance meeting with the Slovenian. “I was just like ‘Hi!’. I didn’t know what to say. He was with Jumbo-Visma for camp, I was just out on holiday with my bike.”

Murphy says cycling has been “a great way to transition out of the pressure of the Olympics”. “Cycling is perfect to take in the surroundings of where you’re going, I think I know every little road in the Wicklow Mountains at this stage,” she says, adding the sport is like sailing as both were a question of “who’s ready to suffer the most?”

The looming question now is whether Murphy would make the push towards representing her country for the second time, in a completely different sport?

“Definitely, if the opportunity came,” she says of a possible appearance in the green of Ireland if it was possible to break into the national track cycling set-up. “But it’s hard to know if I’d be good enough. I don’t know if I have the genetic talent.”

Murphy has maintained some involvement in the sailing scene as she continues to coach young athletes who are hoping to replicate the heroics she managed on the biggest stage, taking silver in the Laser Radial at the 2016 Olympics, three years after winning gold at the Europeans.

“I’m currently coaching development sailors who are aiming for the 2028 Olympics. It’s nice to give something back, it would be selfish to not pass on the knowledge I have.”

Looking ahead, Murphy hopes to build on her strong season on the track and also venture into more road racing next season, while also dipping into the world of mountain-biking.