Cycling Ireland CEO James Quilligan believes that Lara Gillespie's stunning gold medal in the elimination race at the Track World Championships in Chile will be the final push that sees the commencement of building a national velodrome.
Gillespie, who was crowned European champion in the event in Belgium in February, saw off Katie Archibald of Great Britain to become world champion, with Belgium's Helene Hesters third in Santiago.
The achievement of the 24-year-old from Carlow is all the more impressive given that she had to train for the event abroad, with no indoor velodrome in Ireland.
That looks set to change after the announcement last month that Minister for Sport Patrick O'Donovan will seek Government approval for almost €100 million to build the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown.
Quilligan is confident that the new velodrome will be up and running in time for the 2028 LA Olympics and that Gillespie’s victory is perfectly timed with a building commencement date just weeks away.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "It’s well known that we have no velodrome in the country, but this gives a lift to everyone and we’re all talking about it, which is massive.
"The good news is that we know the velodrome is 99% there and it should be announced in the next few weeks by Sport Ireland. This just shows us what we can do on the world stage, even without all the resources we need.
"It’s been an incredible year in various disciplines, but this is huge.
"We train in Spain and Portugal and you only get it at various times of the year. To get to the Olympics with no velodrome last year was huge and now for Lara to take it on… we have some serious talent coming through.
"This will lift everything but the velodrome is coming, which is the next piece of the jigsaw for us as we look to LA and beyond.
"It’s very, very close. I know Sport Ireland and the Department of Sport are about to sign [off on it], I feel it’s all done and dusted as far as I’m concerned and we’re looking for the announcement.
"In fairness to the Department of Sport, they’ve really helped us in the last couple of weeks and we’re nearly there.
"I think that will be announced in the next couple of weeks, all being well."
The Cycling Ireland boss hailed Gillespie’s achievement and insisted that he felt gold was always within her reach, given how much she has been improving since the Paris Olympics.
"It’s incredible," he said. "We knew Lara was in the top five in the world, but to go out and produce on the world stage is absolutely incredible for everyone involved, it’s massive.
"She has been building towards this. This year she became European champion in the elimination, last year at the Worlds she came third in the omnium, so it has been building.
"In the Olympics, with the pursuit Lara was very close to a medal, so it’s been building over a number of years. Last night is just the icing on the cake."
