Gordon and Mullen battle to fifth in tandem sprint

Ireland concluded their Paracycling Track World Championships on Sunday as Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen battled to a fifth-place finish in the tandem sprint while Chris Burns finished ninth in the scratch race and sixth overall in the omnium.

Gordon and his co-pilot Mullen were first up in the tandem sprint qualifying and set a time of 10.212, qualifying fifth fastest for the quarter finals, coming close to breaking his national record set in 2019 alongside Eamon Byrne.

In the quarter finals, the Irish pair faced off against a strong French pairing who got the upper hand winning both heats and progressing to the semi-finals.

The pair ultimately finished fifth after beating Japan in the 5th-6th final in a one-off match sprint.

"Overall, it's been successful for us," said Gordon on their first time competing together.

"We would’ve liked more this morning in the qualifier and a bit more in the kilo (1km time trial) on Friday...it’s just taking that hunger away with us for more."

Chris Burns finished in sixth place overall in the MC4 omnium after finishing in ninth place in the scratch race.

Burns came into the final day of competition sitting in joint fourth-place in the four-event omnium on 94 points, after producing solid performances in the first three events – flying 200 (3rd), 1km time trial (4th) and 3km individual pursuit (9th).

During the 60-lap scratch race, Burns hit the deck after touching wheels with another rider, but was quick to remount his bike without assistance and was able to re-join the group he was in before his crash, ultimately finishing in ninth place.

"It was touch and go at stages in the scratch race," he said afterwards. "It started off well. I came down in a crash and maybe I should’ve composed myself a