Irish duo Lydia Gurley and Lydia Boylan finished 11th in the women’s Madison race at cycling’s world track championships on Saturday and, with that, appear to have secured a place for Ireland in the Tokyo Olympics.
The duo have been amassing points throughout the qualification period, and their finishing position behind the Dutch winners on Saturday should be enough to guarantee a place at the Games. Ireland also has provisionally secured a slot in the women’s Omnium.
The Madison race is similar to relay in track running, although teams have just two riders who alternate during the event. This makes the Madison chaotic to watch and also dangerous to ride. Indeed, Boylan came down during the event in a fall, but was fortunately able to continue racing.
“I think it was carnage, from my point of view, anyway,” said Gurley afterwards. “I think it wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done, and that was the most important thing today. I would have liked a better result but we picked up points. We fought…we really, really had to fight there. I am in bits, but we have done it. I am really proud of what we achieved today.”
She said that Boylan’s crash came just after she took over from Gurley on the track. The latter was fatigued and looking forward to a few laps’ rest, but had to immediately spring into action again in order to ensure they didn’t lose too much ground. “Someone went into the back of Lydia and there was nothing she could do. I wasn’t really aware until I saw a lot of green jerseys running in her direction, and I didn’t see Lydia on the track,” said Gurley.
“So I was like, ‘okay, now, you have just got to stick in, conserve energy because you are going to be in here for a while. So that is what I tried to do, just find a good wheel and stick on there. But it is draining to be in there for a while, That is why we had to fight again, but we got it done.”
Meanwhile Kelly Murphy also put in an impressive effort on Saturday, breaking the Irish record during qualifying. Murphy covered the 3000 metre distance in a time of 3 minutes 29.699 seconds, almost a second faster than the 3 minutes 30.687 she set in the European championships in October.
On that occasion she went five seconds faster than the previous record and qualified for the bronze medal final. She finished fourth then.
Murphy’s time on Saturday was 12.416 seconds off the quickest time, the three minutes 17.283 set by the American Chloe Dygert. This put the Irishwoman 15th.
She said she was pleased with the pace she set, but resolved to work harder in the future in order to move up the leaderboard.
“I am satisfied. I ultimately came to beat the time I set at the European championships, which I did,” she said. “As is with timed events, a lot of girls here have showed that the bar has been raised. I am going to have to put in a lot of work to have to rise with it.
“I can be satisfied today, but I need to come here and see myself as a contender. I came 15th out of 22 girls, you need to start putting yourself out there.
“I have got everything I need in Palma, I have got all the equipment and the time and space to train. Ultimately I am very happy with the ride as it is the best an Irishwoman has done on the track, but if you want to come to these events and compete, you are going to have to start pulling a little bit more out of the bag. I am content today, but I am looking forward to what is to come.”
On Wednesday Murphy was part of the four-woman Irish squad which smashed their Irish record in the qualification round of the team pursuit. They then went on to finish eighth overall the next day.
She described that event as the main focus of her championships. “The individual pursuit was just a bonus ride. We have been working really hard out in Palma, just doing laps after laps. We have been breaking our own records in almost every competition we have been at. That is ultimately what I learned, that we can come here and be contenders. It is time to stop focussing on ourselves and start looking at the bigger field and start moving the bar in time for [the 2024 Olympics in] Paris.”
Although the team has made big strides, the Tokyo Olympics have come too soon for the team pursuit squad to qualify. However the next Olympics seems a realistic target.
The world track championships conclude on Sunday. Alice Sharpe will compete in the women’s points race, while Mark Downey and Felix English will ride the men’s Madison.
World track championships, Berlin
Women's Madison: 1, Netherlands; 2, France; 3, Italy
Other: 11, Ireland
Women's individual pursuit qualifying: 1, Chloe Dygert (USA) 3 mins 17.283 seconds; 2, L. Brennauer (Germany) at 1.037 secs; 3, F. Brausse (Germany) at 2.939 secs
Other: 15, K. Murphy (Ireland) at 12.416 secs
