Ireland’s Madison pairing of Felix English and Mark
Downey finished ninth in the Madison at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World
Championships today, with the world title going to Germany ahead of Spain and
Australia. Lydia Gurley finished 16th
in the Women’ Points Race, with gold going to the unstoppable Kirsten Wild,
from the Netherlands. USA’s Jennifer
Valente took silver and Canada’s Jasmin Duehring rounded off the podium with
bronze. The championships take place in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, from the 28th
February – 4th March.
The Men’s Madison was a fast race, with Germany displaying their strength by winning five out of the twenty sprints on offer, as well as lapping the field. Spain, Australia and Austria also took a lap, and the Irish duo performed well to pick up five sprint points, totalling eleven points and resulting in ninth overall.
In the Points Race Gurley raced aggressively, featuring in several significant moves. “It’s disappointing to race that hard and not get any points out of it,” said Gurley afterwards, “I was involved in a few moves with strong riders – but they just didn’t work out.”
The Galway rider is still relatively new to track racing, and is happy with her progress – “my physical and mental level has moved up a level. I’m going to have a short break and come back stronger. If I keep racing the way I am racing, I feel that more results will come. I have been working really hard on my fitness – I train hard to make the racing easier.”
Next season is an important one, with the major events counting towards Olympic qualification – “The next big focus is the European Championships – that is when it starts to get serious, when the Olympic qualification starts – I really believe we can get results then.”
Today was the last day of racing at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, which took place from the 28th February – 4th March.
RESULTS:
Women’s Points Race
Gold: Kirsten Wild (NED) 49 Points
Silver: Jennifer Valente (USA) 43 Points
Bronze: Jasmin Duehring (CAN) 30 Points
16th: Lydia Gurley (IRL)
Men’s Madison
Gold: Germany 53 points
Silver: Spain 45 points
Bronze: Australia 37 points
9th: Ireland 11 points