The Ulsterman was in fine form and has secured valuable ranking points towards his Olympic ambitions. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist began the weekend with 11th place in the Flying lap, he then managed to take third in the points race and ended day one with 14th in the elimination race, an event which almost derailed his qualification campaign when he was disqualified from the Kazakhstan round of the World Cup in November.

The Newtownards rider went one better than his points race result by taking second place in the scratch race on day two. He was fifth and seventh in the two timed events on day two, the individual pursuit and kilo time trial respectively.

The top eight European countries will qualify for the Olympic's and Irvine's strong result in China is believed to have moved Ireland into one of those spots. The final two qualifying events are the London World Cup in February and World Championships in Australia in April.