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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Following David O’Loughlin’s new national record and seventh place yesterday in the individual pursuit, he and three other team pursuit riders set a new mark in that discipline on day two of the Beijing track World Cup.
Although the Irish riders were back in 17th place in qualifying, the 4 minutes 15.011 seconds clocked is a clear improvement over the 4 minute 21 second record which had previously been in place. The quartet of Paul Healion, Martyn Irvine, Dermot Nally and O’Loughlin will take encouragement from that, while simultaneously knowing that they will need to raise their game considerably in the next two World Cup races if they are to stand a chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games team pursuit.
As expected, the Great Britain team came out best in the race. Ed Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Geraint Thomas and Paul Manning posted a time of 4 minutes 4.659 seconds (58.857 km/h) in qualifying, edging New Zealand and Denmark, and then went on to comfortably beat the Kiwis in the final.
Their time of 4 minutes 2.517 seconds was over two and a half seconds faster than the quartet of Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Timothy Gudsell and Marc Ryan. Dutch riders Levi Heimans, Jenning Huizenga, Jens Mouris and Peter Schep took bronze.
Meanwhile Brian Kenneally had mixed fortunes in the scratch race. He showed good form early on in the competition, placing fifth behind Alexander Aeschbach (Switzerland) in heat two. Former FBD Insurance Rás race leader Mike Friedman was second. The American then went on to win the final, while Kenneally was listed as a non-finisher.
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ANOTHER IRISH RECORD FALLS IN BEIJING (Cycling Ireland press release)
The Irish Team Pursuit squad broke the national record today, taking 5 seconds off the previous best time at the second round of the World Cup of track cycling in Beijing, China.
The team of David O’Loughlin, Martin Irvine, Paul Healion and Dermot Nally finished with a time of 4 minutes 15.011 seconds in an event won by World Champions Great Britain. This represents a vast improvement from the previous outing last March in Manchester. Performance Director Frank Campbell was pleased that the team reached their first milestone on the road to Olympic qualification.
Track coach Tommy Evans said that this time was an indication of the enormous amount of work put in over the last 6 months. The performance was impressive as the turnout for the event was the biggest seen at a world cup event.
In the scratch event Brian Keanneally competing for the first time on the track qualified impressively from his heat placing fifth for the final.
Performance Director Frank Campbell said it was a very encouraging result for this team who had never ridden together in competition before and it was important to get a solid result. The result was only made possible with the support from the Irish Institute of Sport. He was confident that the team could improve considerably in the build up to next year’s Olympic Games.
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Track World Cup 07-08 Round 2, Beijing, China, December 7-9:
Day 2 - December 8:
Men's 4000m team pursuit – qualifying:
1, Great Britain (Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Geraint Thomas, Paul Manning) 4 mins 4.659 secs (58.857 km/h)
2, New Zealand (Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Timothy Gudsell, Marc Ryan) 4 mins 5.177 secs
3, Denmark (Michael Faerk Christensen, Casper Jorgensen, Jens-Erik Madsen, Alex Rasmussen) 4 mins 5.849 secs
Other:
17, Ireland (Paul Healion, Martyn Irvine, Dermot Nally, David O'Loughlin) 4 mins 15.011 secs
Finals:
For gold and silver
1, Great Britain, 4 mins 2.517 (59.377 km/h)
2, New Zealand, 4 mins 5.222 (58.722 km/h)
For bronze:
3, Netherlands (Levi Heimans, Jenning Huizenga, Jens Mouris, Peter Schep)
4, Denmark, DNF
Men's scratch race – qualifying:
Heat 1:
1, Roger Kluge (Germany/Team Focus)
2, Martino Marcotto (Italy)
3, Robert Slippens (Netherlands)
4, Roland Garber (Austria)
5, Alexander Khatuntsev (Russia)
6, Emile Abraham (Trinidad &Tobago)
Heat 2:
1, Alexander Aeschbach (Switzerland)
One lap behind:
2, Michael Friedman (United States)
3, Jerome Neuville (France)
4, Mahammad Alakbarov (Azerbaijan)
5, Brian Kenneally (Ireland)
6, Alois Kankovsky (Czech Republic)
Final (60 laps)
1, Mike Friedman (USA)
2, Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina)
3, Tim Mertens (Belgium)
4, Michael Morkov (Denmark)
5, Vladimir Tuychiev (Uzbekistan)
6, Robert Slippens (Netherlands)
Other:
DNF: Brian Kenneally (Ireland)
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