Jennifer O’Reilly, Ciara Horne and Caroline Ryan underlined their continuing strong progress in track cycling with an excellent performance in the World Cup in Cali, Colombia yesterday. The trio went over five seconds quicker than their national record set at the European championships in Pruszkow, Poland, last month, beating the target time specified beforehand by Cycling Ireland’s coaching staff Brian Nugent and Andy Sparks.

They covered the 3000 metre distance in a time of three minutes 31.708 seconds, exceeding the 3 minutes 33 aimed for, and marking a very significant improvement over the 3 minutes 37.072 set in Poland on November 5th.

The time is understood to be inside that needed to secure carding. They also finished fifth European team, thus earning important qualifying points for the London Olympics.

Fastest qualifiers were New Zealand’s Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis and Alison Shanks, who would go on to beat the Ouch Pro Cycling trio of Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Lauren Tamayo in the final.

The Irish women were just over four and a half seconds off a time in the top six, and will be greatly motivated by their progress.

Irish riders Martyn Irvine and Felix English were also in action yesterday. Irvine won the qualifying heat for the omnium events and was seventh in the flying lap, while English was 13th in the scratch race.

The Irish competitors’ World Cup campaign continues for two more days.

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Women's team pursuit:

Qualifying:

1, New Zealand (Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Alison Shanks) 3 mins 23.132 secs
2, Ouch Pro Cycling (Sarah Hammer,Dotsie Bausch, Lauren Tamayo) 3 mins 23.917 secs
3, Great Britain (Laura Trott, Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel) 3 mins 24.323 secs
4, Germany (Charlotte Becker, Lisa Brennauer, Madeline Sandig) 3 mins 25.673 secs
5, Canada (Tara Whitten, Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda) 3 mins 25.674 secs
6, Australia (Amy Cure, Belinda Goss, Isabella King) 3 mins 27.030 secs

Other:

10, Ireland (Jennifer O’Reilly, Ciara Horne, Caroline Ryan) 3 mins 31.708 secs

(21 starters)


Finals:

For gold:

1, New Zealand (Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Alison Shanks) 3 mins 22.202 secs
2, Ouch Pro Cycling (Sarah Hammer,Dotsie Bausch, Lauren Tamayo) 3 mins 25.222 secs

For bronze:

3, Great Britain (Laura Trott, Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel) 3 mins 23.789 secs
4, Germany (Charlotte Becker, Lisa Brennauer, Madeline Sandig) 3 mins 26.262 secs


Men's Omnium:

Qualifying Heat (heat 2), 60 laps (15km) with 6 sprints:

1, Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 26 points
2, Zach Bell (Canada) 25
3, Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) 25
4, Volodymyr Diudia (Ukraine) 24
5, Bobby Lea (USA) 24


Flying lap (250m):

1, Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) 13.263 secs
2, Ed Clancy (Great Britain) 13.354 secs
3, Jan Dostal (Czech Republic) 13.427 secs
4, Erik Mohs (Germany) 13.436 secs
5, Zach Bell (Canada) 13.437 secs

Irish:

7, Martyn Irvine, 13.566 secs

Points race (120 laps/30km with 12 sprints):

1, Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) 71
2, Juan Arango Carvajal (Colombia) 60
3, Zach Bell (Canada) 57
4, Artur Ershov (Russia) 52
5, Ho Ting Kwok (Hong Kong) 43

Irish:

16, Martyn Irvine, 5


Elimination Race :

1, Luis Mansilla (Chile)
2, Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina)
3, Niki Byrgesen (Denmark)
4, Ed Clancy (Great Britain)
5, Andreas Mueller (Austria)

Irish:

23, Martyn Irvine, relegated


Men's scratch race final:

1, Morgan Kneisky (France)
2, Gijs Van Hoecke (Belgium)
3, Martin Blaha (Czech Republic)
4, Marco Arriagada (Chile)
5, Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spain) at 1 lap
6, Kirill Sveshnikov (Lokomotiv)

Irish:

13, Felix English, at 2 laps

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Cycling Ireland press release:


WOMEN'S PURSUIT TEAM SMASH NATIONAL RECORD, IRVINE WINS QUALIFIER FOR PLACE IN OMNIUM FINAL

Racing in their first world cup the Irish women's team smashed their national record to get a time of 3min31.7sec in the team pursuit to finish 10th out of 21 starters. Martyn Irvine moves into the final 24 for the omnium, by winning his qualifying heat and coming 7th in opening event, the flying lap.

The Women’s team pursuit time will be particularly pleasing to the coaching team as it not only knocked several seconds of their previous best time (3.37) but by finishing 5th European team they have scored valuable Olympic qualifying points over some of their rivals for a place in the London Olympics.

On Thursday Irvine started the Omnium event strongly, this consists of six events, with points being rewarded for the finishing position in each. The gruelling event comprises of a flying 200, points race, elimination race, individual pursuit, scratch race and a time trial. Under the guidance of coach Andy Sparks, Irvine has been consistently improving in these events, and will be looking to build on his 8th place in the European Championships last month.

The women's team pursuit is made up of Jennifer O Reilly, Caroline Ryan and Ciara Horne, all of whom are relatively new to cycling, and the improvements that the group has been making has been significant. The 3km Time Trial is a race against the clock, with two nations starting at opposite sides of the track. At the European Championships Ireland achieved a national record in a time of 3.37, following an intensive training block in Aigle, they have knocked 6 seconds off their time. Racing continues tomorrow with the men's omnium and Ryan in the women's individual pursuit.


Full results can be found at: http://www.tissottiming.com/

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Racing schedule for Friday:

Men's Omnium:
Martyn Irvine

Women's Individual Pursuit:
Caroline Ryan