Knight Finishes Fourth At Junior World Track Championships

Kerry Teenager just misses medal in Individual Pursuit in Junior World Track Championships in Astana

Josie Knight has finished a fine fourth in the 2km Individual Pursuit in the world championships in Astana today.

18-year-old Knight from Dingle, Kerry, was pipped to the bronze medal by Madeleine Park of New Zealand in the third-fourth place ride off.

The margin between the pair was a scant .146s after eight laps of the Saryarka velodrome in the Kazakhstan capital.

Knight recorded 2m27.71s in her final ride, just over a second behind her morning qualifying ride of 2m26.631s.

Knight had qualified fourth fastest, just four thousandths of a second behind Park in the morning session to set up her second major championship Individual Pursuit medal ride.

Silver medallist in the European Individual Pursuit last year, Knight is already a key member of the Irish senior team pursuit squad and raced with distinction as an Under-23 at the recent European Track Championships in Greece.

Paying tribute to another world class performance from the emerging Kerry rider, High Performance Coach Brian Nugent said:

"Josie gave her all today. In the final her opponent took an early lead and Josie pegged her back lap by lap but ran out of time in the end.

"She has proved that she is right up there with the best in the World. We're very proud of how she delivered under pressure today.

"Josie has prepared well for these championships. She's disappointed coming so close, but we'll go in fighting tomorrow."

Knight is back in the velodrome tomorrow for the first three races in the Omnium competition followed by the Scratch Race in the evening session.

The Omnium concludes with the final three races on Sunday.