Ireland’s Martyn Irvine secured a Track qualification slot for the London Olympics this summer with a 7th place finish in the Omnium event at the Track World Championships at Melbourne. Irvine rode consistently over the two days in the 6 event Omnium with five top ten finishes ensuring a high overall finish.
Of key importance was his finishing position relative to the riders from Denmark (4th) and Poland (12th) who were closest to Ireland in the combined rankings from the twelve qualification events. However Irvine had enough of a lead going into this event to ensure Ireland held on to 7th European nation and thus inside the top 8 required to secure a slot for Ireland.
The track world Championships in Melbourne concludes a long qualification route which started in Poland in November 2010 and included twelve events in total. Irvine, a native of Ards, in Co Dowm, completed in eleven of the events on route to qualification taking in China, Kazakhstan, Columbia on route and more recently the Olympic Velodrome at the London World Cup.
26 year old Irvine will now return to Europe and will compete in some road races with his RTS Racing team. He will then return to his track base in Palma where alongside his Coach Andy Sparks he will prepare for his first Olympics.
Speaking on his qualification today Cycling Ireland CEO, Geoff Liffey spoke of his delight at the achievement which he said was particularly pleasing given that it was achieved without a Velodrome in Ireland and with limited resources. This on the back of the Bronze medal won by Caroline Ryan yesterday demonstrates the potential for future success in Track Cycling in Ireland.
Ireland now have four Cycling slots confirmed for the London Games with three secured for the men’s Road Race & Time Trial at the end of 2011. There are two more possibilities for a female Road Race & Time Trial slot and a BMX slot both of which will be known at the end of May.
