Irish Teams On Record Pace At European Track Championships

The Irish Women's squad have qualified eighth in a new national record time in the Women's Team Pursuit on the first day of action at the European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland.

The Irish quartet of Lydia Boylan, Josie Knight, Caroline Ryan and Mel Spنth reduced the previous benchmark by 4.372s as they stopped the clocks in 4m35.090s to qualify for the first round tomorrow.

Ireland will face the fifth fastest team, Germany, in the second heat tomorrow morning having finished qualifying 1.764s slower than their rivals.

Further illustrating the progress of the Irish squad, the team were within 1.785s of a top four finishing time.

Racing to the Olympic and World Championship team pursuit regulations, Ireland are still in the hunt for a bronze medal and are guaranteed two more rides tomorrow.

In the Men's Pursuit, the Irish team of Mark Downey, Felix English Fintan Ryan and Martyn Irvine also lowered the national record, bettering the previous best recorded in Copenhagen in 2009 by .048s as they finished 14th in 4m11.539s.

Afterwards, Team Technical Director Brian Nugent expressed his satisfaction at the record breaking performance of the Irish teams.

"The team performed well tonight as a whole with two national records. It's all about progression. The young men's team did as good a performance as any team has done before so we are pleased with that.

"The women's team have made a massive jump from last year. Shaving more than 4.3sec off their fastest ride and very close to the gold and silver medal ride offs.

"We're very pleased because of the way they delivered their performance, controlled and as planned. They get to do two more rides tomorrow so it's great experience for them."

Tomorrow's track action including the Irish Team Pursuit squad gets under way at 10.30am, Irish time.

In the evening session, Martyn Irvine will ride the Men's Scratch Race while Josie Knight will ride the Women's Points Race, the final two events on the day's programme.

The European Track Championships will be covered live on Eurosport TV during the week.