Ireland set team pursuit record at European Championships but fail to advance

Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin set a new Irish record in the team pursuit at the UEC Track European Championships in Switzerland on Thursday, but missed out on qualifying for a medal race after finishing fifth.

A time of four minutes 19.705 seconds eclipsed the previous mark set at the Nations Cup in Glasgow last year by 0.033.

After finishing fifth in qualifying, Ireland needed to a top-four place to race for a medal. Despite improving on their qualifying time by almost two seconds, Italy, Great Britain, France and Germany secured the berths for the medal races.

Orla Walsh kicked off the day for Ireland in the sprint qualifying and her time of 11.159 saw her advance to the next stage.

Walsh was paired with Ukraine’s Oleksandra Lohviniuk but missed out in the match sprint as she finished 0.070 seconds behind Lohviniuk.