Track medallist Ryan switches focus to Olympics

Irish track cyclist Caroline Ryan arrived back to a hero’s welcome at Dublin airport yesterday after becoming the country’s first senior World track cycling medallist in the professional era, following her bronze medal in the Women’s 25k points race last Thursday.

Ryan followed that result with a ninth place finish in the Individual Pursuit last Sunday morning, setting a new Irish record and personal best for good measure.

A delighted Ryan said, “It’s brilliant and we always said we could do it but to get it and for the race to go your way, we planned it all tactically, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. You could be going well but everything just slotted into place at the right time.”

However, with the Points race and the individual pursuit being scrapped for the Olympics in London this year, the Kildare native and her coach Brian Nugent must now try and qualify in the road and time-trial disciplines instead. But first, it’s some well deserved rest.

“I’ll take couple of days to rest to get the legs right again but I’ll hit the road then again with time trials and the road racing to try and qualify for London on the road.

“We’re going to go out now and fight hard for it.”

Ryan, a former international rower only made the switch to cycling in 2008 and has since established herself as one of the best in the world.