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Team Ireland Para-cyclists put in exceptional performances this morning, Sunday 1st of September, on what is the final day of track cycling action at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, Paris.
Katie-George Dunlevy, piloted by Eve McCrystal, finished second in the qualifying round of the Women’s B 3000m Individual Pursuit. The pair gave it their all to come home in a time of 3:20.481.
They will race against Sophie Unwin, piloted by Jenny Holl, for the Gold medal at 13:31 (Irish Time).
Emotions were high as they realised they will race for Gold, speaking afterwards Dunlevy said:
“I think we’re just shocked, we had a lot of pressure on us going into that race, we knew we just had to do the ride that we knew we could do. We don’t have a lot of track time compared to the others and knew we were against three GB bikes there.
“I think we did the best ride of our lives and can’t believe we’re in that gold/silver ride-off, we’re really in shock. It was just great to have all our family here. Eve’s kids are here, my parents are here, my cousins - we’re just over the moon!
“I know we’ve got to fight for the Gold now and going to have to recover but I’m just ecstatic, in shock! Eve’s very emotional, she was the most nervous she’s ever been, and I was very nervous as well. Eve’s steering felt just so smooth behind and she did amazingly, I’m just so proud of us both.”
The pair now rest and prepare for what will be their final race on the track together, McCrystal said:
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s gold or silver but we will be in that start gate ready to get gold. If we don’t get it, it doesn’t matter, that’s the difference.”
Josephine Healion, piloted by Linda Kelly, were competing in the same qualifying event. The pair finished in fifth place, narrowly missing out on qualification for the race for Bronze. They stopped the clock in 3:27.425 – a personal best by an impressive eight seconds.
Both riders were delighted with the performance. Healion reflected:
“Phenomenal, really really happy with that obviously. We were going well in training yesterday, myself and Linda are growing all the time on the track – strength to strength so yeah really happy with it.”
Kelly added:
“It was absolutely fun out there today. I didn’t want to let GB catch up, so they caught us on the second last lap. We motored and gave it socks and really enjoyed it.”
Men’s B 1000m Time Trial
There were also two Team Ireland bikes competing in the Men’s B 1000m Time Trial qualifying round – Damien Vereker, piloted by Mitchell McLaughlin, and Martin Gordon, piloted by Eoin Mullen.
Gordon and Mullen secured their place in the final, which will take place at 12:51 (Irish time), when they finished fifth in a time of 1:01.158, setting a new Irish national record.
Speaking afterwards, Gordon said:
“Objective was to qualify for a final and look you can only do your very best out there, it’s four laps of pure torture but we got to the final, that was our objective coming into this morning and it’s one step at a time so far so good, and it’s a national record set as well today. It’s a good morning’s work but a lot to do in the afternoon.”
“You’re always chasing records, always trying to do better than you did before so that national record that stood until a few minutes ago was set in Tokyo a few years ago so it shows how hard they are to break.”
Mullen explained that the next couple of hours look like:
“Not enough time to go back to the village so probably find a dark corner and go lie down and relax, get a bit of food, nothing exciting really to be honest.”
Vereker and McLaughlin finished in tenth place, in a time of 1:06.740. The pair who are looking forward to focusing on the road cycling events were happy with their performance.
Vereker said:
“It was an amazing experience being here on track together again, there was an incredible light show before the start. The kilo is always a tough one, really fast, really hard but it was a good blowout. The support ha, it’s been incredible, it’s getting better and better, just deadly.”
Mitchell added:
“The (road) time trial is our main event and also the road race so we’re glad to get the track done and focus more on what we’re better at.
“The atmosphere here in the velodrome, with all the Irish fans, has been fantastic so thanks to them for travelling over and supporting us. It’s been amazing so far.”