Irish Tandem Narrowly Miss Bronze at Track World Championships
Strong Opening Day for Irish Paracycling Team in Aguascalientes, Mexico
Ireland’s tandem pairing of James Brown and Bryan McCrystal narrowly missed out on the Bronze medal after qualifying for the ride off in the Men’s B Pursuit at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico today. Their National Record of 4.17.125 was the third fastest time earlier today, qualifying the new pairing for the Bronze medal ride off against USA. However, the fast starting Americans proved too strong for the Irish bike, giving them a 0.3 second advantage at the end of the 4km race against the clock. Bronze went to Clark Rachfal and David Swanson (USA), with Australia beating Spain in the Gold medal final.
Brown, who won Bronze at the Paralympic Games in the Time Trial, has seen his personal best times tumble in training since pairing with Dundalk’s Bryan McCrystal, with the duo achieving a qualifying time that would have been a World Record prior to this weekend. Unfortunately this evening’s performance fell shy of a medal, with the USA bike attacking hard off the start. While this put the Irish bike under pressure straight away, they kept fighting until the end, just missing Bronze by 0.3 seconds.
Speaking after the race Paracycling Coach Neill Delahaye was disappointed for the riders saying “They were beaten by just 0.3 seconds. They were down by 2.5 seconds at one point, and were really playing catch up from the start. They clawed almost all the time back, but it wasn’t enough. Their lap times were very consistent, but that deficit at the start just proved a fraction too much to close.”
With temperatures rising to 41.9 degrees in the Velodrome today, the timetable of racing was brought forward, which meant that the finals were held two hours ahead of schedule. However, the team had been acclimatising in Mexico for the past number of weeks, and it did not deter them from producing National Records in the events today.
With this being the first major track cycling competition on the UCI Paracycling calendar since the Paralympic Games in 2012, the racing is guaranteed to be intense across all categories. All bikes will be in action tomorrow, with due attention being focused on Colin Lynch, who will be racing to defend his World Title in the Men’s C2 Pursuit. Also in action is Enda Smyth, who is in the form of his life.
The competition takes place in Aguascalientes, Mexico, between April 10th and 12th.
RESULTS
Men’s B 4km Pursuit Finals
Gold: Australia – Formston and Curran
Silver: Spain – Avila Rodriguez and Font Bertoli
Bronze: USA – Rachfal and Swanson
Fourth: Ireland Brown and McCrystal
Men’s B 4km Pursuit Qualification:
1. FORMSTON Matt & CURRAN Michael (AUS) 4.11.213
2. AVILA RODRIGUEZ Ignacio & FONT BERTOLI Joan (ESP) 4.12.633
3. BROWN James & MCCRYSTAL Bryan (IRL) 4.17.125
4. RACHFAL Clark & SWANSON David (USA) 4.18.915
Women’s B 3km Pursuit Qualification:
1. FOY Emma & FAIRWEATHER Laura (NZL) 3.23.609
2. GRAY Phillipa & YOUNG Kylie (NZL) 3.25.972
3. TURNHAM Laura & HALL Corrine (GBR) 3.29.286
4. KANUMA Yurie & TANAKA Mai (JPN) 3.31.617
5. DUNLEVY Katie-George & MCCRYSTAL Eve (IRL) 3.31.963
SCHEDULE
Friday 11th April:
9.00 Local Time (15.00 Irish Time) Colin Lynch: Men’s C2 3km Pursuit Qualifiers
9.00 Local Time (15.00 Irish Time) Enda Smyth: Men’s C3 3km Pursuit Qualifiers
16.30 Local Time (20.30 Irish Time) Katie-George Dunlevy & Eve McCrystal Women’s B 1km TT
16.30 Local Time (00.30 Irish Time) James Brown & Bryan McCrystal: Men’s B 1km TT
Approx 18.30 Local Time (02.30 Irish Time) Colin Lynch: Men’s C2 3km Finals
Approx 18.30 Local Time (02.30 Irish Time) Enda Smyth: Men’s C3 3km Finals
Saturday 12th April:
Approx 12.00 Local Time (18.00 Irish Time) Colin Lynch: Men’s C2 1km Time Trial
14.30 Local Time (20.30 Irish Time) Enda Smyth: Men’s C3 1km Time Trial
Official Results Website: http://www.eventosdeportivosidea.com/