Info Cycling Ireland, photos as indicated
Times keep tumbling for Irish cyclists as Richael Timothy sets a new PB
Richael Timothy finished her second event (500m TT) and set a time of 42.485, a new personal best.
Chinese rider Wangwei Qian was the first to dip inside the world record level with 38.070. Richael took to the track soon after and set 42.485, a new personal best. Amanda Reid of Australia came out next and consistently took time off of Qian and was in advance of two seconds at the finish with a time of 35.581 – a new world record. Just a few minutes later Dutch woman Alyda Norbruis was the last on the track and she traveled across the 500 meters in 36.057. Reid took the gold, Norbuis the silver, and Qian third.
Richael, speaking to Cycling Ireland after the finish said her focus has been on the road and she is now shifting her concentration to her targets on the road. “This is not a target event for me but it is another race under my belt. I did a PB, I couldn’t have gone any faster,” she said. Richael said that she is happy to have achieved her track goals with personal bests here on the Izu Velodrome but now the focus shifts to the road race events.
“It is nice to get that over with and I can focus on the road now. It is nice to get a focus on the road race and I am looking forward to that. I get a run out in the time trial first and that will give me a good idea of the course and what to expect for the road race. We’re heading straight over to the road venue now to get familiarised with it and put the track behind us until next year. It is fairly twisty and rolling – I’m looking forward to getting out on it,” she added.
Fourth place and two personal bests for Ronan Grimes in the 4km TT
Ronan Grimes showed total consistency throughout this morning’s 4000 meter Time Trial races as he finished with two personal bests and a fourth place in the event. The Athenry man rode an impressive heat in the morning against eventual gold medalist Jozef Metelka of Slovakia who rode an astounding 4:22.772 World Record against him to qualify for the final. Ronan went deep and finished with a 4:37.696 which saw him progress to the bronze medal ride-off against Colombian Speedman Diego German Duenas.
Shortly after 7.15 am Irish time Ronan’s start gate counted down and released its hold on his rear wheel. He sprinted out of the saddle on the first pedal revolutions of his 4km medal race. He started hard, gathering time against the much-fancied Colombian in a display of poise, rolling around the high-speed track as close to the black line as he dared.
With three laps to go, he had taken two seconds out of Duenas but then the Colombian’s form kicked in – he clawed back the time and began to overhaul the Irish man throughout the last couple of laps. It was another personal best for Ronan with 4:37.001 in this his debut on the wooden boards of a Paralympics Velodrome.
The Galway rider spoke to Cycling Ireland about the tactical game plan for the race.“There’s not much more I could have done there. He never drops off – he always maintains the pace. We were looking at the splits from this morning. He started very slow in that race. We were calculating that if it was like that qualifier I could have had four seconds on him by two kilometers. The plan was to go out hard and hopefully he would go out slow and then I might catch a bit of a draft off him. I knew that he would drive on at the end. If he started slightly slower there might be a bit of a slipstream there and it would keep me for him for just a bit longer and then whatever kick he had at the end I might have had a buffer. It was the last two laps when he pulled away from me. I can’t really see what is going on behind me but I had ques from Neill Delahaye, my coach, and I knew if I heard ‘squeeze’ then it was tight and that we were neck and neck. At that stage, I was thinking about putting more power in but really I was just holding the bike and going slower,” he explained.
Tomorrow we have Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in the 3000m pursuit with the qualifying starting at 2 am Irish time – the final will be on at 3.47 am if they succeed in going through. Also, Martin Gordon and Eamonn Byrne will go for the final in the B 1000m Time Trial from 3.08 am to 3.47 am Irish time.
