Ireland have taken their first ever team medal at a European Track Cycling Championships, after Kellie Murphy, Mia Griffin, Emily Kay, and Alice Sharpe took a bronze medal in the Team Pursuit on Wednesday.
The women's pursuit team came home just ahead of the Great Britain team to claim a famous spot on the podium.
Bronze for Ireland at European Track Cycling Championships
The Track Championships were moved at late notice to Grenchen in Switzerland due to human rights concerns surrounding the original host city of Minsk in Belarus.
The team pursuit sees teams start on opposite sides of the track and race 4km to the finish. The Irish women's team set a new national record of 4:21.202 in the preliminary rounds, and were consistently the next fastest team after the front runners of Germany and Italy.
With that national record time, they qualified for the bronze medal final, where they were pitted against Team GB.
An incredible ride by Ireland to claim the BRONZE medal in the Team Pursuit 🥉🔥 pic.twitter.com/9JloD2xPVI
— Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) October 6, 2021
It was a tough prospect for the Irish team, given the prestige of Britain's track cycling programme, but the performance by Griffin, Sharpe, Murphy, and Kay was nothing short of spectacular.
With a winning margin of nearly four seconds, the quartet came home to take a first ever European Track Cycling medal for Ireland in stunning style. The fact that the win came over the British team surely added a smile to the face of many Irish fans.
Smiles all round for the Team Pursuit squad 🤩
What a performance 🔥 They secured the Bronze medal by nearly 4 seconds!#EuroTrack21 pic.twitter.com/oZMF0k1BqT— Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) October 6, 2021
Germany defeated Italy in the final to take home the gold medal, but there's no doubt in our minds as to who the stars of the day were in Grenchen, on a famous day for Irish cycling.
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