IRELAND’S PRODIGIOUS CYCLING star Lara Gillespie has won bronze in the Individual Pursuit at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Frankfurt.

The Wicklow teenager set a new junior national record of 2:20:438 during qualification, averaging 51.268kpm for the 2000m time trial, and today underlined her growing potential on the world stage.

Gillespie went up against Marii Milaeva of Russian in the race for bronze and although she trailed by almost half a second at the halfway mark, she timed her effort perfectly to claim Ireland’s first medal at a Junior Track World Championships.

“I’m so happy, I can’t believe it,” she said. “The last few laps were pretty hard, they were pretty brutal but I worked so hard for this all year so I’m really happy.”

Earlier this season, Gillespie won silver medals in the individual pursuit, scratch race, and points race in the Junior European Championships.

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