RONAN GRIMES SET a new personal best and a new Irish record after finishing fifth overall in the C4-5 4000m time trial.
Grimes clocked a time of 4:28.859 to put him at the top of the leaderboard in the heats with six more riders to follow. He was in third with one more heat to go, putting him in contention of progressing to the bronze medal race.
However, he needed to be in the top four and ultimately slipped back to fifth as Archie Atkinson set a blistering time of 4:17.700 to sit at the top of the standings and book a place in the gold medal race.
“I’m delighted,” Grimes said.
“I’m a bit upset seeing the time that the French rider coming through just did (meaning he wouldn’t qualify for the final), but I’ve 4:28 for the Individual Pursuit. Before today only three riders had ever gone under 4:30. I think there will be a few more later on but to join that club I think is something I am very proud of.
“Last year I did a time that I didn’t think was in me and I was sick in March for the World Championships and I did a slow time. There was a bit of pressure coming on myself wanting to PB but I didn’t know if I had that in me, I came nowhere near to it in training. Credit to the coaches, they know how to get you in shape. That’s more their result as my result. They dictated the training and got that result as much as I did.”
Para-cyclist Ronan Grimes set a PB and new Irish record as the Galway native chases a place in the C4-5 4000m time trial medal races #RTEparalympics #paris2024
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 31, 2024
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Meanwhile, Richael Timothy also set a new personal best as well as a new Irish record but missed out on a place in the C1-3 500m time trial final, after finishing 10th.
With the top six progressing to the final, Timothy’s time of 41.937 wasn’t enough to see her through to the final.
She will compete in the individual time trial and road race next week in Paris.
“I’m delighted, I couldn’t have done any more than that. 500 is obviously kind of a sprint specialist event but I said I would do it anyway – get the experience, get the warmup, all that sort of stuff.
“I went faster than I’ve ever gone and I kind of had a bit of a wobble at the start there as well but yeah it’s good to get that one done.
“I suppose the road is kind of take it as it comes, anything can happen, especially in the road race. So I’m just going to get as much rest, recovery, we’ll get out on the road on Tuesday then see what it’s like, then hopefully we’ll all do well next week.”
So near, but setting PB’s and national records is a great achievement in itself. Further argument for the development of the National Veladrome & Badminton Centre in the National Sports Campus….