Mia Griffin has finished in tenth place in the women’s elimination race on day two of the UEC Track European Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland on Thursday, February 9th.
The Irish rider was heavily involved in the opening exchanges as she kept to the front of the bunch and clear of elimination but found herself in a battle to avoid elimination on two occasions before finishing in tenth place in a competitive field.
Ireland enjoyed a successful start to the day in the afternoon session as a new national record was set in the women’s team pursuit.
The team of Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin set a blazing time of 4.19.705 – a new national record* in the first round following qualifying on Wednesday.
The new time is 0.033 seconds quicker than the previous record set on April 21, 2022, at the Nations Cup in Glasgow.
After a strong time of 4:21.426 in qualifying on Wednesday, Ireland needed to move up from fifth in the standings to the top four in order to race for a medal.
And despite taking almost two seconds off their qualifying time, Ireland missed out on the top four behind Italy, Great Britain, France and Germany.
Orla Walsh kicked off the day for Ireland in the women’s sprint qualifying and her time of 11.159 saw her finish 16th and progress to the 1/16 finals in the afternoon.
Walsh was paired with Ukraine’s Oleksandra Lohviniuk in the 1/16 finals, but missed out in the match sprint as she finished 0.070 seconds behindLohviniuk.
* All new national records are provisional and subject to formal ratification with Cycling Ireland.
Day Three Schedule
It’s another busy day for Ireland on Friday, February 10th, as Conor Rowley competes in the men’s sprint qualifying.
Lara Gillespie will compete in the women’s omnium throughout the day, racing in the scratch and tempo races in the afternoon session followed by the elimination and points races in the evening session.
Also in action in the evening session is JB Murphy, he’ll compete in the men’s scratch race at the Tissot Velodrome.
More information on results and the schedule is available here.
