Irish team pursuit squad finish seventh in qualifiers on day one of UCI Track Nations Cup

The Irish team pursuit squad secured their place in the next round at the UCI Tissot Track Nations Cup in Egypt on Tuesday, finishing seventh-quickest in the qualification session.

Mia Griffin, Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe and Kelly Murphy completed the 4,000-metre distance in a time of four minutes 32.464 seconds, 12.848 seconds behind the time set by fastest team New Zealand.

The pace was over 15 seconds slower than the national record of 4:16.877 they set at the Track Nations Cup on February 24th, but the track in Cairo is partially outdoor and considerably slower than the track in Jakarta.

This difference was also reflected in the time set by New Zealand team, which was slightly over 11 seconds slower than their winning time last month.

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Having been one of the eight qualifying teams, Griffin, Gillespie, Sharpe and Murphy will compete in round one of the competition on Wednesday.

Sharpe and Gillespie will also be in action in the women’s Madison on Thursday, while Griffin will line out in the multi-round Omnium event on Friday.

In all there are three changes from the line-up that competed in the previous round in Jakarta. Sprinter Orla Walsh is missing from the squad for this contest, while Erin Creighton and JB Murphy will contest the men’s and women’s elimination races on Wednesday. Murphy will also compete in the men’s omnium on Thursday:

Both riders raced in the European Championships last month, with Creighton making her senior Irish team debut there. She placed 14th in the women’s individual pursuit, while Murphy was 14th in the Omnium and almost pulled off a big result in the scratch race, attacking early and nearly lapping the field.