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Last Updated: 10 Nov 2021 - 3:15:15 PM |
2021 Track Cycling World Championships - Reports
By Scott Graham, Marketing & Communications Manager
23 Oct 2021,
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Media Release: 23.10.2021
Kelly Murphy sets a New National Record to finish 6th at Track Cycling World Championships
Teammate Mia Griffin puts in strong performance in 8th
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| Kelly Murphy in action - Photo courtesy of Drew Kaplan Photography |
Ireland's Kelly Murphy lowered her own Individual Pursuit National Record by more than 2 seconds at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships today. The record now stands at 3:27.490 for 3,000 meters on the indoor velodrome and saw her finish in 6th place. Murphy was a member of the Women’s Team Pursuit Squad along with Mia Griffin, Emily Kay and Alice Sharpe who finished 5th in a New National Record on Thursday.
Ireland teammate Mia Griffin produced a superb ride to finish 8th in a time of 3:34.713. Griffin won bronze in the 2020 U23 European Championships Individual Pursuit and claimed another bronze in the UCI Nations Cup in St Petersburg in July.
Both Murphy and Griffin have gone from strength to strength with Murphy improving on her 15th place finish at the 2020 Track Cycling World Championships in the same event.
Earlier today, Emily Kay and Alice Sharpe partnered for the Women's Madison and put in a great effort in heat 1 but were unfortunate not to book themselves a place in the final.
Ireland's Championship draws to a close today in what has been a hugely successful competition for the squad one which they can build on for future competitions.
After her National Record-breaking performance, Murphy said:
"The start list was equivalent in standard to Euros [Championships] 2 weeks ago, which gave myself and Mia a good bout of confidence since we could predict beforehand where we could be in the pecking order. I guessed 7th would be a good day out for me; and l came 6th - just 1 second off the medal ride offs. It was a career goal of mine to finish top half, and today l executed the best ride l had in me, so to be within sniffing distance of the top 4 is a really encouraging way to close my season."
Commenting on her teammate's performance in the event, Murphy added:
"Mia's ride deserves a mention, she has really began to prove herself in this event. Every time she gets in the track she takes huge chunks of time off her PB [Personal Best] and she really is just getting better and better. IP [Individual Pursuit] is an event that forces you to take an honest assessment of what your capable of and we both pushed those limits here and at Euros and we have reaped our own rewards."
Media Release: 22.10.2021
Women’s Team Pursuit Squad Set New National Record to Finish 5th at Track Cycling World Championships
Ireland’s Women’s Team Pursuit squad of Emily Kay, Kelly Murphy, Mia Griffin and Alice Sharpe finished 5th at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships on Thursday in a new National Record of 4:21.126. The result is Ireland’s best finish in the event at World Championship level and continues an upward trajectory for the Ireland’s track cycling program. Ireland had their most successful Track Cycling European Championships in early October winning bronze in the Women’s Team Pursuit and bronze in the Men’s Scratch race when JB Murphy powered home.
The Women’s Team Pursuit quartet narrowly missed out on the bronze medal ride-off but were pleased with their record setting performance at the biggest event of the year. Established track cycling nation, Canada recorded the fourth fastest time in the first round completing the 4,000-meter team pursuit in a time of 4:20.191. The result saw Canada progress to the bronze medal ride off against Great Britain with Ireland missing out.
Germany went on to win Gold ahead of Italy in the Silver medal position and Great Britain winning Bronze.
Commenting on their performance, team member Mia Griffin said:
“On a review of the race I think the main thing we can take from Worlds [Championships] and on the back of the Euros [Championships] is the fact that we’ve been really consistent, and I think that consistency is a good place to start from. If we keep chipping away, we are going faster and faster marginally each time, I think there will be eventually a time where we will go a lot faster. So that’s what we’re hoping and that’s what we strive to do and with this I suppose we’ve not had [teammate] Lara [Gillespie] for the past two competitions and what we’ve learned now is we have a good five girl squad who can each race at that level. We need five girls to be part of this so I think that has been something that we’ve taken from these competitions.”
Ireland’s Team Pursuit Squad has an eye on the future and qualification for Paris 2024. Mia Griffin added:
“We’re just excited to chip away at the time that we’ve done now, and I think we will work hard over the winter to keep chipping down on that time and try bridge the gap to the bigger nations. Where we are now, I think we’re in a good place at the moment for going forward because we’re fifth in the World ranking, so I think going forward for this Paris cycle it’s a good place to be. In the last cycle we weren’t anywhere near that at this stage so to be where we are in a comfortable position right now is very important, I think and this winter we’re ready to work really hard.
“Other than that, I would like to thank Cycling Ireland for giving us these opportunities because we’ve really, really appreciated them and just the support from the staff and the support from Spin 11 as well with the clothes and all the stuff they’ve given us. It’s been a good consistent two competitions for us and I think we can start from there and work towards going faster and we also miss Lara [Gillespie] so we wanted to add that in as well that she’s part of our team too and we’ll have her back as soon as possible.”
Interim Head Track Coach, Paul Manning commented:
“The team rode excellently to deliver another National record in the World Championships here in Roubaix. Consolidating their excellent performance in the recent European championships. Managing the Championship environment has been an important learning as well as being present to confirm the gap to the best in the World this year. The squad are motivated, committed and energised to continue striving for more and are grateful to Cycling Ireland and all its partners for the support that allows them to achieve their goals. Watch this space!!”
The Irish riders are back in action on Saturday. Emily Kay and Alice Sharpe will team up for the Women’s Madison at 10:04am Irish time while Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin will ride the Individual Pursuit at 12:25pm.
Results and live timing link:
[ External Website / link click here ]
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