Ireland’s world championship track campaign gets underway on Wednesday with four competitors disputing two events. The team pursuit squad of Emily Kay, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Alice Sharpe start things off at approximately 12.30pm in their qualifiers and, all going to plan, will compete in the first round on Thursday evening.
Gillespie will also contest the 10km scratch race on Wednesday evening and hopes to build on the form which saw her land two stage wins in the recent Rás na mBan. The former junior European points race champion missed much of the past two seasons due to illness and injury, but appears to be recovering her previous momentum and is a considerable talent.
The team pursuit squad finished a fine sixth in the European championships in Munich in August. Mia Griffin was part of the squad then and while she is focussing on the Madison race with Sharpe in the world championships, she believes that the other four riders are set for a strong performance.
“I think with the team pursuit, we go by lap splits,” she said when asked what the team is capable of. “And I think we’re looking to ride a certain lap split. If we ride that certain lap split, it will be a fast time. And hopefully that fast time will be a top eight, so that we ride the first round, and then can progress from there and see how far we can go.”
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One of the big draws for the world championships is that the races will take place in the same velodrome that will be used in the 2024 Olympic Games. This is something which Griffin feels adds additional motivation to the squad. ”I feel the excitement building within the team,” she said. “And there’s definitely a huge focus to deliver a good time on this track, because I think delivering a good time on this track would just bring huge confidence coming into the qualifying cycle.
“Also, the track seems to ride quite nicely for a team pursuit. So that’s also a good thing to be able to find out, even before the competition.”
One possible reason for Griffin to miss out on riding in the team pursuit this time around is a recent bout of Covid-19. She caught the virus three weeks ago and that, plus the a shoulder injury suffered at the European championships, has complicated her preparation.
“It’s been anything but straightforward to get myself to here,” she said. “But my legs are coming, just as I’m getting here to the competition. It’s late to feel the legs coming, and all the way through the training camp, it was just [a case of] ‘patience, your legs will come good in two weeks’ time. They may be really bad now, but just keep pushing.’”
What’s given her encouragement is seeing Sam Bennett perform strongly in last Sunday’s Paris-Tours race. He was on the attack for a substantial part of the event and, despite being caught by the peloton and hemmed in at the finish, was still strong enough to take third there.
[ Bennett ends season on high note with third-place finish in Paris-ToursOpens in new window ]
Bennett had contracted Covid-19 during the Vuelta a España and returning to strong form has given Griffin hope that she can do the same. “I saw that result from Sam and I was like, ‘that’s pretty cool.’ Because obviously I saw that he got Covid in the Vuelta, and that shows that you can just you can get back pretty quick. I was living with my boyfriend and we both got it at the same time. And he rode gravel worlds [the gravel world championships in Italy on Sunday] and was flying. There are always some good things that that come about that give you confidence as well, so that’s cool.”
Griffin’s Madison event is on Saturday evening, giving her a few extra days to build form before lining out in the world championships.
The sixth Irish rider who will compete for the team is the sprint specialist Orla Walsh. She was previously part of the endurance squad but switched to the shorter, more explosive events in the second half of 2019. She is one of the trainees at the UCI’s World Track Centre and has been making steady progress.
All going to plan, she will continue her improvement at the worlds.
“I’ve had a pretty consistent year, I feel, in terms of no injuries,” she said. “I’ve been progressing nicely with improvements at each competition. The big goal for this year was to qualify a spot for the world championship. I successfully did that, at least in the sprint and the 500 metre [time trial]. I’m unfortunately a reserve for the Keirin but there’s still hope there, potentially. We’ll see. But I’m looking forward to it.”
Walsh came to cycling late, and the sprint events even later, and accepts that her competitors have a head start on her. Still, she looks for the positives. Although she’s 33, she believes that her late introduction to the sport means that she has more years of improvement ahead of her.
The progression in her sprint times also gives her reason for optimism. “This year I started the season with 11.1 [seconds]. Then it was 11.0, then it was 10.9. A tenth is significant in a 200 metre time trial, so progressing at that rate this year was good to see. So I’m obviously hoping again that I can improve.
“Obviously that’s going to plateau off at some point, but for one year to improve like that is good going. I am just going to keep pushing and see where the limit is.”
Walsh’s goals for the world championships are to further improve on her personal bests and, by extension, finish as highly as she can in her races. She’s not sure what placings are possible but does have a number in mind as an ideal goal.
“Obviously, I would love to improve on my time again. A top-10 is a big ask at a world championships, but that would be brilliant. The best riders in the world are here and they’re all on really good form, so I’m proud to be here. And if I can improve on my own personal bests, then that’s an achievement in itself, I think.”
Team Ireland schedule at track world championships, Paris
Wednesday, October 12th
Team pursuit qualifying: Emily Kay, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe (from 12.30pm Irish time*)
Scratch 10 km final: Lara Gillespie. (from 18.56)
Thursday, October 13th
Sprint qualifying: Orla Walsh (from 13.27)
Elimination final: Alice Sharpe (from 18.57)
Friday, October 14th
Omnium: Emily Kay (from 14.05)
Saturday, October 15th
500m TT qualifying: Orla Walsh (from 11.00)
Individual pursuit qualifying: Kelly Murphy (from 13.21)
Madison 30km final: Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe (from 17.10)
*All times provisional. Riders’ schedules will expand upon qualification for events.
