Irish rider Caroline Ryan had a superb showing in today’s qualifying round of the individual pursuit at the track World Cup in Cali, Colombia, finishing fourth out of the 20 competitors in the race.

The former international rower broke the Irish record in clocking a time of 3 minutes 40.6 seconds for the 3000 metre distance, and was just 0.546 seconds off the time of third-placed rider Pascale Schnider (Switzerland).

The two will square up later this evening to fight it out for the bronze medal in the event. Alison Shanks (New Zealand) and Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) will race each other for gold.

Ryan’s showing is a big surprise, given that Irish team coach Andy Sparks had set a target for her of breaking a time of 3 minutes 45 seconds. Going almost five full seconds quicker is ahead of schedule, and so being in with a chance of taking a medal.

It’s greatly encouraging, and follows on from her fine performance as part of the Irish trio in the women’s team pursuit yesterday.

She, Jennifer O’Reilly and Ciara Horne broke their national team record by over five seconds with their time of three minutes 31.708 seconds. This earned them tenth in the competition, but in finishing fifth of the European teams, secured them valuable points towards Olympic qualification.

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. Irvine has the concluding omnium events today, and is determined to ride well.

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Women's Individual Pursuit Qualifying:

1, Alison Shanks (New Zealand) at 3 mins 30.868 secs
2, Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) at 3 mins 32.226
3, Pascale Schnider (Switzerland) at 3 mins 40.054
4, Caroline Ryan (Ireland) at 3 mins 40.600
5, Lisa Brennauer (Germany) at 3 mins 41.657
6, Aksana Papko (Belarus) at 3 mins 41.857