Ireland women fail to advance in Team Pursuit at Track World Championships

Ireland have narrowly missed out on qualification for the first round of the women's Team Pursuit at the Track World Championships in Paris.

Emily Kay, Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe and Kelly Murphy posted a time of 4.19.934, which meant a ninth-place finish overall, with the top eight finishers qualifying for tomorrow's first round.

Ireland finished 0.815 seconds behind final qualifier the USA.

Their time was less than 0.2 seconds from breaking the national record set in April of this year.

"I think we’re both pleased and disappointed," said Emily Kay.

"We thought we were capable of being in the top eight, we would have liked to have qualified and got a second ride but that’s the fastest we’ve ever qualified. We've taken a step forward so it’s bittersweet.

"Olympic qualifying is the top-10 now, so we’re within that and we definitely know there’s things we can change to take that step forward.

"There’s a few in front of us that aren’t too far away, we can change some things and hopefully take more steps forward."