English 8th in Omnium at Track World Cup

Felix English finished 8^th in the Omnium today at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Pruszkow, Poland, following a strong day of racing. In the Women’s Madison European silver medallists Lydia Boylan and Lydia Gurley finished tenth, and Shannon McCurley placed 21^st in the Keirin. This was the final day of racing in the first World Cup of the track cycling 2017/2018 season, which ran from the 3^rd – 5^th November

In the Omnium English had a strong opening event, finishing third in the scratch race, this was followed by ninth in the tempo and fourth in the elimination placing him in a strong fourth place overall starting the final points race.

“Today was good, and then it didn’t finish so well,” contemplated English after his race, “I was fairly consistent throughout the day, but a combination of a few technical mistakes in the points race and not having the legs, to be honest, played a part in the points race.”

Last night English competed in the Madison with Mark Downey, where they finished 5^th in what was the fastest recorded Madison, “Riding the Madison last night affected me a bit tonight – it was the fastest Madison of all time, we have got the points we need, and are in the mix for the World Cup.”

In the final event of the Omnium a phenomenal performance in the Points Race from Denmark’s Niklas Larsen saw him take three laps and win with over 40 points to spare from Szymon Sajnok (Poland) and Claudio Imhof (Switzerland).

The Women’s Madison was won by Belgium, who placed in every sprint, ahead of Great Britain and Italy. Ireland’s Boylan and Gurley had to settle for tenth in the 20km race.

In the Keirin Ireland’s only track Olympian Shannon McCurley was competing, finishing 21^st overall, after placing fourth in the repechage. Gold went to German powerhouse Kristina Vogel, with Russia’s Daria Shmeleva taking silver and Stephanie Morton (Australia) bronze.

This brought to a close action in the first Track Cycling World Cup of the 2017/2018 season. Next week the Irish will be back in action at the second World Cup in Manchester.

RESULTS

Men’s Omnium

Gold LARSEN Niklas (DEN)

Silver SAJNOK Szymon (POL)

Bronze IMHOF Claudio (SUI)

8^th ENGLISH Felix (IRL)

Women’s Madison Race

Gold Belgium (KOPECKY Lotte, D'HOORE Jolien)

Silver Great Britain (BARKER Elinor, NELSON Emily)

Bronze Italy (CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia, BALSAMO Elisa)

10^th Ireland (BOYLAN Lydia, GURLEY Lydia)

Women’s Keirin

Gold VOGEL Kristina (GER)

Silver SHMELEVA Daria (RUS)

Bronze MORTON Stephanie (AUS)

21^st MCCURLEY Shannon (IRL)