TEAM IRELAND HAVE taken a superb bronze medal in the 4km Women’s Team Pursuit at the European Track Cycling Championships, beating Great Britain in the bronze-medal final in Grenchen, Switzerland today.
The quartet of Kelly Murphy, Emily Kay, Mia Griffin and Alice Sharpe powered to a dominant victory over Great Britain in this evening’s final.
Ireland’s time of 4:21.262 was nearly four seconds quicker than their opponents, who covered the 4km distance in 4:24.904.
Germany won gold while Italy took the silver medal.
Smiles all round for the Team Pursuit squad 🤩
— Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) October 6, 2021
What a performance 🔥 They secured the Bronze medal by nearly 4 seconds!#EuroTrack21 pic.twitter.com/oZMF0k1BqT
In the process of qualifying for the bronze-medal final the Irish squad had set a new national record, recording a time of 4:21.202 earlier today, beating the previous national record of 4:21.368.
Although they finished second best to Italy, they did enough to secure a place in the bronze-medal final.
JB Murphy was also in action today in the final of the Points Race. The young rider put in a brilliant performance, gaining a lap solo during the race and was part of a group that took another lap to finish with a total of 43 points putting him in 5th place.
French rider Benjamin Thomas claimed the gold medal with 81 points ahead of Luri Leitao of Portugal on 61 points and Vlas Shichkin of Russia on 57 points.
The competition continues tomorrow for Team Ireland where Emily Kay will compete in the four event Omnium. Kay was in great form in the Olympic Omnium before a crash derailed her hopes of a top finish.
JB Murphy continues his Championship campaign with the Scratch race tomorrow evening at 6pm.
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