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Last Updated: 5 Mar 2020 - 7:57:43 AM |
Women’s Team Pursuit National Record Smashed at World Track Championships
By Scott Graham, Marketing & Communications Manager
27 Feb 2020,
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It was a record-breaking opening day at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin as Mia Griffin, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Lara Gillespie set a new national record in the Women’s Team Pursuit.
Their time of 4:21.368 was a huge four-second improvement on their previous best set in October 2019 and saw them qualify for the next round in 8th position.
The team has made great strides over the past 12 months continually closing the gap to the top Team Pursuit nations. At the 2019 World Championships, the national record stood at 4:29.148.
Lydia Gurley lined for Ireland in the Women’s Scratch Race during the evening session in Berlin. The Scratch race, which is a straightforward 10km race to the finish line, saw the peloton stay together throughout the 40-laps.
Pre-race favourite Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands took to the front with two laps remaining and had the power to hold off the challenge from behind. Jennifer Valente of the USA took silver with Maria Martins of Portugal edging out Laura Kenny of Great Britain for bronze.
Gurley crossed the line in the main bunch in 21st position, her primary objective for the World Championship being securing Olympic qualification in the Women’s Madison on Saturday.
Team Ireland Schedule – watch live on BBC or Eurosport
Thursday, February 27th
Women’s Team Pursuit Round 1: Mia Griffin, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Lara Gillespie @ 17:30
Men’s Scratch Race: Felix English @ 18:57
Friday, February 28th –
Women’s Omnium: Lydia Boylan @ 14:00, 15:55, 18:34 and 20:01
Men’s Points Race: Mark Downey @ 17:32
Saturday, February 29th
Women’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying: Kelly Murphy @ 12:13
Women’s Madison: Lydia Boylan, Lydia Gurley @ 16:10
Sunday, March 1st
Women’s Points Race: Alice Sharpe @ 13:02
Men’s Madison: Mark Downey, Felix English @ 14:03
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