Lara Gillespie
Cycling
BIOGRAPHY
Lara Gillespie represented Ireland in three track cycling events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – the women’s team pursuit, the Madison and the Omnium – becoming the last Team Ireland athlete to compete when she finished 10th in the Omnium on the final day of the Games.
In the team pursuit she was part of the quartet that set a new national record of 4:12.447 before narrowly missing the next round in 9th place. With Alice Sharpe in the Madison she finished 11th. The Omnium saw her win the Tempo race and spend time in fourth place overall before finishing 10th.
Gillespie grew up in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow and began cycling with Orwell Wheelers. She became the first Irish woman to win a medal at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships and won silver in the time trial at the 2017 Youth Olympic Games. Her path to Paris was marked by significant adversity – she overcame a debilitating condition requiring surgery, glandular fever, a torn hamstring, a dislocated collarbone, a broken shoulder sustained just weeks before the Games, and Covid.
She won the general classification and two stages at the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa in April 2024 and was promoted to the UAE Team ADQ WorldTour squad in June. She holds a degree in Health and Performance Science from University College Dublin, where she was an Ad Astra scholarship recipient.
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