Results for Irish at Bejing Track World Cup

Harrybelafonte

Looks like Martyn Irvine is doing quite well in the Omnium and and had fastest time for the 4km Individual Pursuit leaving him 10th over all.

"In the third round of the Track World Cup Series, the Irish team performed strongly, with Irvine accumulating valuable points towards Olympic Qualification in the Men’s Omnium. Martyn Irvine wins the individual pursuit, and climbs to overall standing of 10th place in the Omnium, Felix English performs well in Points Final and Jennifer O'Reilly misses final in the qualification for the Women’s Omnium

The Omnium is a new event in the Olympics, and involves the rider competing in six events, following a qualification point’s race. While O Reilly was unlucky to miss qualification in the women’s event, Irvine displayed continuous improvement throughout the men’s event, resulting in an encouraging overall tenth place. 26 year old Irvine impressed the field by producing the fastest time in the individual pursuit in the Omnium on Saturday. The time trial specialist powered through the 4km event in a time of 4min 28, and later produced the sixth fastest time in the 1km time trial, leading to his strong overall result.

English, in his debut year at a senior level raced strongly in the Points race, qualifying for the final in a highly contested event, coming home in 20th position, demonstrating huge potential for the future.

Earlier in the competition the women’s team pursuit raced strongly in their event, and finished the 3km team time trial in a time of 3.37min. While the women’s team produced a faster time in the second World Cup in Cali, this team overcame several obstacles in the lead up to the World Cup, with Caroline Ryan racing with a broken wrist and Siobhan Horgan racing on the track for the first time. The trio of Ryan, Horgan and O Reilly, started strongly with an opening lap of 22.83 seconds, and eventually finished in 15th place, several seconds off their national record of 3.31.7min.

The next round of the World Cup series takes place in Manchester on the 18-20 February.

MEN’S OMNIUM:
1. Samuel Harrison (GBR)
2. Zachary Bell (CAN)
3. Roger Kluge (GER)
10. Martyn Irvine (IRL)

WOMEN’S TEAM PURSUIT

1. New Zealand 3.26.4
2. Canada 3.27.6
3. Australia 3.28.1
15 . Ireland 3.37.2

MEN’S POINTS
1. Arthur Eschov (LOK)
2. Alexei Markov (RUS)
3. Claudio Imhof (SUI)
20. Felix English (IRL)"

http://www.trackcycling.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=566:beijing-track-world-cup&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

niceonetom

Martyn Irvine's blog is worth reading. He makes light of it, but it's clear how much work, both hours and serious intensity, he puts into riding.

Beasty

I was speaking to Martyn a few weeks ago. He needs to get into the top 8 European places to qualify for the Olympics - at that stage I think he was 9th, so it's looking a bit touch and go for him at present. However he is a relative novice on the track, and seems to be improving all the time, so with a bit of luck he will hopefully make it by the time the qualification ends.

niceonetom

Beasty wrote: »

I was speaking to Martyn a few weeks ago. He needs to get into the top 8 European places to qualify for the Olympics - at that stage I think he was 9th, so it's looking a bit touch and go for him at present. However he is a relative novice on the track, and seems to be improving all the time, so with a bit of luck he will hopefully make it by the time the qualification ends.

I think he can do it. He has the talent. His kilo and flying laps are consistently top class. Omnium is a strange discipline - it seems to be as much about not having a bad event as it is about being especially good at any one element. Martyn had a bad one with the elimination race before and has focused on that and in Beijing did better so the tactics are improving in the bunch races. That's all he needs really with the legs he has.

Is Manchester going to be on TV? It'd be good to see the Irish team on telly again.

Beasty

BBC normally have Manchester on the "Red button" - should be on Eurosport also

I definitely think he can make it - the good news is it's only one rider per country in the Olympics, so if, say, GB have 2 better than him, only one of them gets a place. Everyone is having to get used to the omnium, as it's a new format. Irvine is also having to get used to riding the track at this level, but I think he's got it in him (assuming he steers clear of injury)

Harrybelafonte

I think the Women's Team Pursuit result was also good. They raised a few eyebrows in Poland last year so hopefully they'll keep improving.

shaungil

From my total lack of knowledge he appears to have pure speed and power but not the experience and skills of track. so hopefully the experience will come.

Lumen

shaungil wrote: »

From my total lack of knowledge he appears to have pure speed and power

And massive legs. Don't forget the legs.

Junior

He didn't have the best prep for Beijing either with personal issues taking him out of his training schedule, hopefully he'll be in better frame for the next round.

morana

I think Martyn has a good chance of qualifying which ends after the Worlds I think. He is 9th taking into account the 3 brits who are ranked 1-3.

The women pursuit did a good ride but were hampered with the fact that Caroline Ryan broke her wrist in training camp and Ciara Horne was sick. Siobhan Horgan was drafted in and you can appreciate she will need a little time to adapt to track racing.

Martyn didnt have an ideal prep for the competition. So its good but without a velodrome here we are up against it and also the fact the UCI wants a team at all 4 events so we have totravel around the world twice to perform.

cantalach

Siobhan Horgan has also been updating her sponsor's blog pretty regularly too. She doesn't seem to be a big fan of the local cuisine!

http://theedge-blog.com/wordpress/?page_id=168

Harrybelafonte

Looking at the results again I think it's an even more impressive performance considering the lack of a "proper" velodrome here.

RobFowl

cantalach wrote: »

Siobhan Horgan has also been updating her sponsor's blog pretty regularly too. She doesn't seem to be a big fan of the local cuisine!

http://theedge-blog.com/wordpress/?page_id=168

Or the person who took her blood tests....

shaungil

Lumen wrote: »

And massive legs. Don't forget the legs.

Damn straight massive leg guns are a prerequisite for male track cyclists. End of .....