Mullen Impresses with 13th Place in Keirin at UCI Track Cycling World Cup Mexico

Mullen’s Performance Rounds off Successful Year for a Country without a Velodrome  

 

Ireland’s premier sprinter, Eoin Mullen, has rounded off Ireland’s most successful year in track cycling, with an impressive 13th place in the Men’s Keirin at the Track Cycling World Cup in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Young Mullen has been steadily progressing at the World Stage, and is based at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle. This performance follows the impressive Bronze Medal win by Caroline Ryan in the Individual Pursuit on Friday. The Men’s Keirin was won by Matthew Crampton (GBR) with Tobias Wachter (GBR) and Shane Perkins (AUS) taking silver and bronze.

 

In the first round, only two riders progressed directly to the second round, so Aran Islands native Eoin Mullen had to take the repechage route. His excellent 3rd place finish in the Repechage was agonisingly close to 2nd placed Oliva (WAL) with just 0.023sec separating the two riders. Only the top two riders progressed to the second rounds. Mullen’s finishing position was 13th place overall, in an event that saw some dramatic crashes in the early rounds.

 

Performance Director and CEO of Cycling Ireland, Geoff Liffey was impressed with Mullen saying “Eoin has continued to progress at this level. He set a new national record in the Sprint on Friday, and that was a really strong performance in the Keirin.”

 

Liffey was happy with the performance of the Irish Team at the Mexico World Cup, especially considering Ireland is a country that does not have a Velodrome “Caroline won the Bronze Medal in the Pursuit, this brings to close a great year. Over the last two years the Irish Team has clocked up 38 medals at European and World level, across the Paralympic and Olympic programmes. 15 of those medals have been in track cycling, which is a remarkable achievement for a country without a Velodrome. It would be exciting to see what we could achieve with a facility at home that would allow much more talent to develop, as we have proven expertise in our coaching system.”

 

The main goal of the Irish Team at the second World Cup of the Season was to secure qualifying points for the World Championships in February. Ryan has now secured a place in both the Points Race and the Individual Pursuit, and Martyn Irvine had already secured a spot in the Scratch Race and the Individual Pursuit. The next World Cup takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from the 17th – 19th January 2014.

 

RESULTS:

Men’s Keirin Finals:

Gold Medal

1.       Matthew Crampton (GBR)

2.       Tobias Wachter (GBR)

3.       Shane Perkins (AUS)

13th Eoin Mullen (IRL)

 

Official World Cup Website:  http://www.eventosdeportivosidea.com/

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