Dunlevy aims for seventh Paralympic medal, this time without usual partner

Katie George Dunlevy of Ireland celebrate with her mother Alana after winning silver in the women's B 3000m individual pursuit. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Katie-George Dunlevy goes in search of Paralympic medal No.7 this afternoon. And given the road is where she’s strongest, a successful medal search is the most probable outcome.

It would be a medal unique from the other six. It would be a first medal won where Eve McCrystal is not sitting on the saddle directly in front of her.

Ahead of the 2023 season, McCrystal gave up her seat at the front of a tandem road bike she and Dunlevy had shared for the previous 10 years. McCrystal was returning to work full-time as a Garda and didn’t have the hours in the day to commit to road and track, not to mind maintaining the medal-winning level they had set in both.

Her decision was to prioritise the track. It was a decision that created an opening on the road. Hers was a very large seat to fill. Linda Kelly was the pilot asked to fill it. The 30-year-old New Ross native was Katie-George’s new road partner.

It was a partnership that pedalled seamlessly to the front of the peloton and stayed there. They picked up overall victory at the 2023 UCI Para Cycling World Cup before double gold at the Para cycling Road World Championships.

Today’s women’s B 28.3km time trial at Clichy-sous-Bois is an event Dunlevy won gold in at the last two Paralympics. Out to disrupt an Irish three-in-a-row will be the two British bikes that sandwiched Dunlevy and McCrystal on the track podium last Sunday.

The individual pursuit gold medal winning pair of Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl were second to Dunlevy and Kelly in the road time trial at the 2023 World Championships. They represent their greatest threat.

Also present at the top end of the leaderboard will be the highly regarded French pair of Sophie-Anne Centis and Elize Delzenne that were not allowed to restart their individual pursuit qualifier after pulling up half a lap in. Centis and Delzenne won time trial bronze at Worlds last summer.

Josephine Healion and Eve McCrystal, the second Irish bike in this field, did not participate in the time trial at last year’s Worlds, and so while they came fourth in the road race at Glasgow, their time trial credentials are much less known.

On a busy afternoon for the Irish Para cycling contingent, Richael Timothy wheels out in the C1-3 individual time trial, with Ronan Grimes competing in the C4 individual time trial.