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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Walsh and Meehan Claim Bronze in Paracycling Track World Championships
By Press Release, Irish Paracycling Manager
16 Mar 2011,
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Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan took the bronze medal in the Female Tandem 3km individual pursuit on the final day of the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy.
In the morning session, Walsh and Meehan ranked third in the qualifying with a time of 3:41.042. This set them up for a medal ride off with the US pair of Karissa Whitsell and Mackenzie Woodring who are the reigning world champions and world record holders.
In the medal ride off, the Irish pair clocked a time of 3:42.730 almost two seconds faster then the American duo and claimed the Bronze medal with New Zealand taking Gold and Great Britain taking Silver.
Following the race Walsh commented, “We knew we had the beating of the USA if we stuck to our schedule and didn’t panic. We see this as performance as a major stepping stone to achieving our ultimate goal of a medal win in London in 2012.”
Irish Team Manager Denis Toomey, praised the performance of Walsh and Meehan, saying, “Just the end we hoped for the Championships and a richly deserved win for Catherine and Fran who have been really focused on their training and are so committed to their sport”
In the male tandem 200m match sprint, Michael Delaney and Con Collis qualified in seventh position with a time of 10.944. This set up an evening session semi-final ride off with the Great Britain pair.
Denis Toomey commented, “The semi-final ride off against the British tandem was always going to be a big ask but in spite of them beating us in the two rounds we were very much on their wheel and we gave them a good run for their money. We weren’t going to let that happen against the Argentineans and really showed our aggression in winning convincingly to secure 7th place."
Trix Schwedler recorded a personal best time of 47.272 in the women’s C5 500m individual time trial and earlier in the day Chris Burns, Colin Lynch and Cathal Miller finished tenth in the team sprint with a time of 58.136.
After a very busy three days of competition in Montichiari, the Irish team of just 10 athletes returns home with a bronze medal, 11 Top 10 finishes and a total of 12 new Irish records.
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