Ireland’s medal tally at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Colombia has doubled following Lydia Gurley’s sensational bronze medal win in the women’s scratch race.
In an aggressive race Galway woman Gurley bided her time before attacking; a move that netted third for her in the 10km race, with gold going to USA’s Sarah Hammer. Evgeniya Romanyuta from Russia took silver.
This result puts Gurley second in the World Cup ranking. In the Men’s Keirin Eoin Mullen suffered a crash in the opening heat, putting him out of contention for the rest of the event.
The scratch race is a bunch race with the first three over the line deemed winners. The 32-year-old from Athenry, Galway attacked with Hammer and Romanyuta, with the trio working well together to lap the field.
“The race was really quick with lots of attacking,” said Gurley after winning her medal in the third round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Alcides Nieto Patino Velodrome in Cali.
“The plan was to be patient and wait for the right time to attack. When it came, I didn’t look back and just went for it. A massive 'thank you' goes to our coach David Muntaner; literally today I was just the legs, and he was the brains.”
This is the second medal for Ireland following Mark Downey’s dominant gold medal performance on Friday night.
“Winning a medal was unbelievable. The phenomenal performances of Mark Downey and Lydia Boylan the previous day means there was a really positive feeling in the group,” said Gurley.
“We come to races to compete, and not just to make up the numbers. I’d also like to say a massive thank you to everyone at Cycling Ireland for the support.”
Mullen's fall in the first round of the heats of the Keirin was a hard one, and resulted in a hospital trip for the Aran Islands native.
“I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but I went to the hospital for an x-ray on my ribs, but it’s all good,” he noted.
Ireland has won four medals and taken 33 top ten results since the track season started last October. Both Gurley and Mullen are in action again today, with Gurley competing in the 20km Points Race and Mullen in the Sprint.
Mark Downey will once again team up with Felix English for the 30km Madison on the final day of competition in Colombia.
