TRIATHLON Irish triathlete Emma Davis continues her Olympic qualification bid this weekend in Madrid
Ireland’s leading female triathlete Emma Davis continues her bid for Olympic qualification this weekend at the ITU World Cup in Madrid, Spain (Sun 25th May). Twenty two year old Davis, who hails from Bangor in County Down, currently lies in an Olympic qualification spot as it stands today with just this weekend’s race in Madrid, and the upcoming World Championships in Canada (June 8th) to count towards qualification.
Over six races this season Davis, who is supported under the Irish Sports Council’s International Carding Scheme has performed consistently well to rise to a world ranking of 72, and, crucially an Olympic ranking of 66, with just 68 spots available. Her best result came in the World Cup in Richards Bay, South Africa where she finished an impressive ninth.
Emma’s male counterpart; Gavin Noble from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh narrowly failed in his bid to secure Olympic qualification via a different route. Noble, who is also supported by the Irish Sports Council, was hoping to secure the European Flag placing slot which is awarded to the leading athlete in each continent as per the Continental Cup rankings.
Earlier this month Noble climbed into the flag placing but two massive performances from Pavel Simko of Slovakia in the final two races to count; the European Championships on May 10th, and the European Cup last weekend were enough to overtake Noble and take the spot for Slovakia. After a break, Noble must look towards the London Games in 2012.
Emma Davis lines up in Madrid this Sunday sufficiently recovered from two hard falls off the bike at the European Championships to compete in one of the toughest World Cup fields of the year. With many of the dominant European countries set to make selection decisions based on this race competition will be fierce. The race can be viewed live on www.triathlon.org at 9.15am.
No Irish triathlete has ever qualified for an Olympic Games so if Emma Davis was to secure qualification for the Games is would be a remarkable achievement and a wonderful boost for a sport growing in its popularity across the country.
Ends.
For more information:
Please visit www.triathlonireland.com ; jag@triathlonireland.com or call Triathlon Ireland on 01-2017758
or
Sinéad McElroy, smcelroy@irishsportscouncil.ie 087-6338512
For more information on the Olympic qualification process or any of the upcoming races visit www.triathlon.org
Additional Information:
Upcoming Events for Emma Davis
May 25 BG Triathlon World Cup (Madrid, Spain)
June 5-8 ITU Triathlon World Championships (Vancouver, Canada)