LISTEN TO EOIN MULLEN'S INTERVIEW HERE
Eoin Mullen has dominated the Irish sprint scene since he first showed up at the Sundrive Velodrome as a junior rider. The Aran Islands native first got into cycling through the community games, with grass track racing, before discovering there was an outdoor velodrome not far from the boarding school that we was attending in Dublin. From there his passion and talent continued to grow.
At the age of 21 Eoin is now an experienced international track rider, mixing it with the fastest riders in the world. While he still is a member of the Sundrive Track Team, his base is Aigle, where he trains and races for the World Cycling Centre, under the tutelage of some of the top sprint coaches in the world.
Each year and season Eoin's progress continues, with the times coming down, and the speed going up. His speciality is sprinting, and in the World Cup races focuses on both the Sprint events and the Keirin. In the sprint all riders are given one chance to produce their fastest 200m sprint - and the fastest 24 then proceed to the next knock out rounds. This is where the "cat and mouse" style racing comes into play, with each rider trying to outsmart and outpower the next. The keirin has a derny or motorbike setting the pace for the first half of the race, and the riders sprinting it out for the second half - these races are usually about 2km in total.
Last summer at the European Championships Eoin stepped on the podium with a bronze medal win in the U23 Men's Sprint, highlighting his skill and progress. This is just the beginning for the young sprinter who qualified for the World Championships based on his performances throughout the 2014/15 World Cup season.