Well done Mia, Alice, Kelly, Lara, and Erin!! The penultimate leg of the "Track Nation Cup" in Hong-Kong was very successful for the Irish Women Track team, and probably enough for qualification off the Olympics in Paris this summer (Hong Kong China 15th-17th March)

2024 TISSOT UCI TRACK NATIONS CUP – HONG KONG, CHINA (photos and reports taken from the CI website, or otherwise indicated, with thanks)

Ireland secured a silver medal and a new national record in the Women’s Team Pursuit after a successful opening day of the UCI Tissot Nations Cup Hong Kong on Friday, March 15th. In a very significant step towards securing qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games later this year, Ireland picked up a silver medal after racing against New Zealand in the gold medal final. The team of Lara Gillespie, Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe and Kelly Murphy set a time of 4:15.697 in the first round to smash the national record* previously set by the same quartet in February 2023. In the gold medal final, Ireland rode well with a time of 4:19.795 but the team were ultimately beaten by New Zealand as silver medal on the podium was confirmed.(CI report)

They should have enough point tally to qualify for Paris, as now in 4th place (top 10 of nations qualify for the Olympics this summer)

Team Pursuit Rankings | Top 15
1 NEW ZEALAND 10,650
2 GREAT BRITAIN 9,030
3 AUSTRALIA 8,530
4 IRELAND 7,525
5 ITALY 7,240
6 JAPAN 7,030
7 GERMANY 6,840
8 FRANCE 6,655
9 CHINA 6,440
10 CANADA 6,070
11 UNITED STATES 5,950
12 POLAND 4,075
13 SPAIN 3,259
14 NIGERIA 2,954
15 MEXICO 2,938

CI reported: “Co. Wicklow rider Lara Gillespie won the bronze medal in the Women’s Omnium at the second round of the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup, taking place in Hong Kong. Japan claimed the gold and silver medals with Yumi Kajihara and Tsuyaka Uchino respectively. Kajihara finished on 124 points, Uchino on 113 and Gillespie 108, 16 points clear of her nearest rival.Gillespie got off to a strong start in the opening Scratch Race. She maintained her third-place position after the tempo race. Another strong performance in the Elimination Race set Gillespie up well for the final Points Race” (Photo above of Lara receiving the Belgian project gold medal a few years ago…and well deserved)

9th for Erin Creighton in the Elimination Race!! Erin puts in an encouraging performance to take a top ten finish in the Elimination Race in Hong Kong!