Ireland Finish Fifth In Women’s Team Pursuit Qualifying At UEC Track European Championships
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Ireland have finished in fifth place in the women’s team pursuit qualifying at the UEC Track European Championships at Grenchen, Switzerland, on Wednesday, February 8th.
The team of Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin set the standard early on with a strong time of 4:21.426 ahead of Thursday’s first round, finishing top of the provisional standings ahead of Poland, Switzerland and Spain with four teams still to ride.
However, the final four qualifiers of Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany also set strong times to push Ireland into fifth place after the qualifying round, with Great Britain leading the way with a time of 4:11.594.
Ireland will now be matched with Poland in round one, who finished eighth in qualifying on Wednesday, and know that a top four time in the first round will secure a place in the finals, which will take place later on Thursday evening.
In the team pursuit event, the two fastest teams from round one will race for gold and silver while third and fourth will race for a bronze medal.
The performance comes after Emily Kay withdrew from the squad last month due to injury, with Mia Griffin replacing her in the only change to the line-up that competed at the 2022 Track World Championships.
Elsewhere, Alice Sharpe will race in the Women’s Scratch Race at 5.28 pm Irish time this evening.
More information on this week’s schedule can be found here.
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