Historic Olympic track cycling qualification confirmed for Ireland

The Irish women’s team pursuit of Lara Gillespie, Emily Kay, Kelly Murphy and Alice Sharpe at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. Picture credit ©INPHO/SWpix/Charlie Forgham-Bailey

Ireland's qualification for the women's team pursuit event at this summer's Olympics Games in Paris has been confirmed following the conclusion of the qualification period. That an Irish team would be heading to the Olympics for the first time in the event was all but official for the last month.

Qualification in the team pursuit also means that Ireland has secured placed in the women's omnium and madison events. 

“It’s notable that in the women’s team pursuit we have outqualified several nations with strong track programmes and cycling cultures, and not least of all plenty of nations that have their own indoor velodromes," said Cycling Ireland high performance director Iain Dyer.

"I think it’s a testimony to the knowledge and tenacity of staff and riders alike, that we developed a sound strategy and could execute it.

“With the way the rankings work, you almost feel like you have to qualify to qualify, and that process begins over a year away from the Olympic qualification process itself, so it’s felt full-on for the entire Olympic cycle to be in this position, especially with having to train away from home constantly. 

"There’s no doubt there’s lots of young athletes with big track potential in our system but not having a home indoor facility yet remains a significant barrier.”

The women’s team pursuit unit, which includes Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy, Lara Gillespie, Mia Griffin and Erin Creighton, won silver and broke the national record at last month’s Hong Kong round of the UCI Tissot Track Nations Cup. It was a decisive performance in their qualification campaign. 

"The qualification pathway favours team events, as it also offers places for the other endurance events, the Madison and the Omnium. We opted to target the Team Pursuit for our strategy to qualify for all three," Dyer continued.

"In an instance we had only one solo performer in a given event, you really feel like you are fighting the system somewhat. That individual must be virtually one of the top riders in the world consistently over those two years to stand a chance of qualifying. 

"Unfortunately, it became apparent very early on that the chances to qualify other quota spots like that was an impossible task, so our focus narrowed to the women’s endurance events.”

The track cycling events at the Olympics take place from August 5th to 11th.