Retiring happy: Dunlevy and McCrystal seal medal amid high drama and huge emotion in Paris pursuit

The Irish duo have qualified for the gold medal race against British pair of Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl

Katie George Dunlevy, right, and pilot Eve McCrystal of Ireland in action during the women's B 3000m individual pursuit qualifying race on day four of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Drama, controversy, a medal, and tears. The world of tears.

Let’s begin with the medal, a second for Ireland at the Paralympic Games. The providers of that medal are a cycling tandem pairing who have been pulling out podium finishes for 11 years now.

At 1.41pm on Sunday afternoon, Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal will ride together for the very last time. At 1.41pm, Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal will ride against the British pair of Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl in the gold medal race of the 3,000m individual pursuit.

Victory and the pair’s last ever outing after 11 years in the saddle together will be draped in gold. Lose and they still walk away with silver.

Sport rarely affords the fairytale finish. Dunlevy and McCrystal will get theirs. You can’t say they haven’t earned it. Be it gold or silver, it’ll be the pair’s 21st medal across the Paralympics and World Championships.

How Dunlevy and McCrystal wound up in the gold medal race was draped in no little drama and controversy. Part of the second last pairing in this morning’s qualifying, the already five-time Paralympic medalists clocked 3:20.481 to sit second of the nine tandems to have pedalled. With only two pairs left, they were guaranteed at the very worst involvement in the bronze medal race.

Last out on the track were the French duo of Sophie-Anne Centis and Elise Delzenne and Britain’s Elizabeth Jordan and Dannielle Khan. But within half a lap of the start, the race was stopped. The French pair had pulled up.

Katie George Dunlevy, right, and pilot Eve McCrystal of Ireland in action during the women's B 3000m individual pursuit qualifying race Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

The word trackside was that a French foot unclipped. A race cannot be stopped for an unclipping, a rider must simply clip back in and stay pedalling. Unless the issue is mechanical, the race cannot be restarted. The commissaire ruled that the issue wasn’t mechanical and so the French weren’t allowed to restart. They were gone. There was disbelief. There was also a whole lot of booing from the home crowd.

Britain’s Jordan and Khan were allowed to restart, but their time of 3:23.192 was not sufficient to dislodge Dunlevy and McCrystal from second and involvement in the medal race.

Cue tears from the Irish pair warming down on stationary bikes, as emotion spilled over.

“I think we’re just shocked,” said 42-year-old Katie-George.

“We had a lot of pressure entering that race. We don’t have a lot of track time compared to the others, we knew we were against the three GB bikes there. We can’t believe we are in that gold-silver ride off, we’re in shock.

“It’s great to have all our family here. Eve’s kids are here, my parents and cousins, we’re just over the moon. I know we have to fight for the gold now, we’re going to recover, but I’m just ecstatic.

“Words actually don't explain it. I'm like... on top of the world.” 

If Katie-George was ecstatic, Eve was an emotional wreck.

Exhausted, the pair did their post-race interview sitting down. Katie-George leant slightly forward in her chair when answering and engaging. Eve sat back, the tears streamed down her face.

In high-performance sport, emotion, whatever it be related to, has to be parked and packed away. Otherwise, it will drain and drag.

But now that the finish line is in sight for McCrystal and a medal confirmed - she announced well in advance of the Games that Paris will be her last outing - the pent-up emotion poured out of her at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

“It’s just ten years, like,” 46-year-old McCrystal began. “It’s just the kids and work, I’m a single mother, it’s been fucking hard. I lost my father and its just all.... I think I just kept grief and everything in.

“I can retire now so fucking proud. I’m so emotional, and I’m the fucking strong one in this relationship. I’m the bitch in this relationship.” 

Their 3:20.481 clocking, half a second off their national record, was all the more impressive when the revelation came that Dunlevy had not been feeling well pre-race.

“She has been sick,” Eve continued. “This morning she woke up and said, ‘I’m not feeling great’. As a pilot I was like, however shit I feel, as a tandem pairing you have to take each other’s shit, so to speak.

“We’ve always backed each other. If I’m injured, she’s injured. The other one will always give that 10 per cent that you’d never have ordinarily. Today is probably the most nervous I have ever been in my whole entire life.” 

Last word to the woman Eve described as the strongest she knows.

“Sport can be so tough and we have been in the fourth-third bronze medal ride and getting fourth so many times, it can be really hard. To come away from the Paralympics with the medal, we are over the moon.” 

Now to find out what colour it will be.

***

Elsewhere, Martin Gordon, and his Paralympic pilot debutant Eoin Mullen, secured the first final ticket of the morning. Their kilo time trial effort of 1:01.158 bettered the old national record that Martin and previous pilot Eamonn Byrne had set when placing fifth in Tokyo three years ago.

The 1:01.158 clocking put Gordon and Mullen straight top of the leaderboard seven pairs in, and with only four tandems still to come, the west of Ireland duo were instantly assured of a place in the top six qualifying berths moving on to the final.

The four final pairs on the track all went quicker, meaning the Irish ended up progressing in fifth.

That final drops its flag at 12.51pm.